ALBANY (AP) -- A statewide poll finds New Yorkers think the secrecy and closed-door deals that led to last week state's budget approval are unnecessary and a serious problem.
The Quinnipiac University poll is a rebuke of the continued "three-men-in-a-room" method of crafting a budget by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
The poll finds that 55 percent of voters said the closed-door negotiations weren't necessary to achieve the budget.
Three-quarters of voters say the lack of transparency surrounding the $132 billion budget is a very serious or somewhat serious problem.
Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll says that although voters don't like they process, they still like Cuomo, who drove that process.
Cuomo defends the budget process as essential to adopting a spending plan and running government.
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