ALBANY — A day after chalking up a record-high 77 percent approval rating, a tough-talking Gov. Cuomo yesterday warned state lawmakers not to favor special interests over the public interest when they weigh his bare-bones budget plan.

“Are you going to vote for the people or are you going to vote for the special interests?” Cuomo asked in a question aimed at legislative leaders.

“This is a town that’s responded to the special interests for many years,” he continued.

The governor compared the ongoing budget talks with the notoriously spendthrift legislative leaders to a game of horseshoes where, noting, “Close doesn’t count.”

“If they can’t get it done and they’re going to produce a budget that favors the special interests and not the people, then we’re going to have a problem,” Cuomo said on Albany’s WDGA/1300 AM radio.