Thread: Most recent NY Poll on Eliot Spitzer's IA license plan

For Immediate Release: Monday October 15, 2007

Contact: Steven Greenberg at 518-469-9858

Click for: PDF version (with poll trends); crosstabs

Siena New York Poll:


NYers Overwhelmingly Oppose Gov’s License Proposal

Spitzer Gets Lowest Job Performance Rating Ever

Bloomberg Leads Spitzer 50-37 in 2010 Gubernatorial Match-up

Loudonville, NY: Seventy-two percent of New York voters who have read or heard about the Governor’s proposal to allow undocumented aliens to obtain New York driver’s licenses oppose the Governor’s plan, while only 22 percent support it, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters released today. The Siena New York poll also shows that Eliot Spitzer’s job performance rating is lower than it has ever been, with a majority of voters saying he’s doing a fair or poor job. If the 2010 gubernatorial race were held today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, running as a Republican, would beat Democrat Spitzer 50-37 percent.

"Nearly three-quarters of voters – including 59 percent of Democrats – oppose the Governor’s plan to give driver’s licenses to undocumented aliens," said Steven Greenberg, Siena New York Poll spokesman. "The voters’ message to the Governor is clear: ‘No, no, no.’ Opposition to the Spitzer proposal is intense, with 41 percent strongly opposing it and only 7 percent strongly supporting it.

"Nearly two-thirds of voters believe that the Governor’s proposal poses a national security risk, and two-thirds disagree with the argument that it will lower auto insurance costs. Even most Democrats are on the opposite side of the fence from the Governor on those questions. Voters from every region of New York overwhelmingly oppose Governor Spitzer on this issue," Greenberg said.

Spitzer’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 54-36 percent, down from 56-26 percent last month, and a high of 75-10 percent in January. His job performance rating is 41 percent positive 55 percent negative, down from 44-49 percent last month, and a high of 57-36 percent in May.

"While the Governor’s numbers may not be falling off a cliff, they are rolling swiftly and solidly down hill," Greenberg said.

"In four short months, the voters’ view of Spitzer’s job performance has reversed itself. Four times as many voters think he’s doing a poor job as think he’s doing an excellent job," Greenberg said. "Since January, his favorability has fallen by 21 points while his unfavorability has risen by 26 points."

In a hypothetical race against Bloomberg for Governor in 2010, Spitzer trails 50-37 percent. He beat Bloomberg 43-41 percent in June. Democrats favor Spitzer 54-35 percent, while Republicans favor Bloomberg 70-18 percent. Bloomberg leads by 28 points in New York City and 31 points in the downstate suburbs. Spitzer has a 15-point lead over Bloomberg upstate.

"What a difference a summer can make. In June, Spitzer had a small lead but now Mayor Mike’s lead is significant. Eliot Spitzer should be happy his re-election is three years away," Greenberg said.

Similar to last month, nearly 60 percent of New York voters who know about the Attorney General’s "troopergate" report believe that Spitzer needs to be more forthright about what he knows, while only 29 percent believe he has been honest with the public. Seventy percent of voters continue to believe the Governor should publicly testify under oath about everything he knows about the situation. And 62 percent (up from 53 percent last month) think Spitzer was aware of what his top aides were doing.

"Voters’ views on ‘troopergate’ have not dramatically changed since September. They don’t think the Governor has been honest with the public, they think he knew what his aides were doing, and they overwhelmingly say he should publicly testify about the issue," Greenberg said. "Interestingly, when voters were asked who’s more at fault in the troopergate scandal, they are split with 33 percent saying Spitzer, 33 percent saying Bruno, and 14 percent volunteering that the two are equally to blame."

One current Spitzer initiative did receive overwhelming approval. Seventy-one percent of voters support the S-CHIP lawsuit the Governor has joined to broaden health care coverage for children. Democrats support the lawsuit by an 86-9 percent margin. Republicans support it 54-36 percent.

When asked to rank nine issues on a scale of importance, the top issues for New York voters were health care, jobs and the economy, public education, taxes and integrity in state government. Democrats ranked as their top three health care, jobs and the economy and public education. The top three for Republicans were taxes, integrity in state government and public education.

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This SRI survey was conducted October 7-10, 2007 by telephone calls to 620 registered New York State voters. It has a margin of error of + 3.9 percentage points. For more information, please call Steven Greenberg at 518-469-9858. Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at: www.siena.edu/sri/snyoctober.
http://www.siena.edu/level2col.aspx?men ... 2&id=12081

Page cannot be found....Hmmm Guess they pulled that poll real quick to pull the wool over our eyes.