Posted on 04/04/2010 4:16:25 PM PDT by neverdem
New York voters apparently are fed up with their state legislators.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of New York voters finds that 69% think it would be better if most incumbents in the state legislature were defeated this November. Just 12% say it would be better for the state if most of the incumbents were reelected. Another 18% aren’t sure.
As the legislature continues to wrangle with the governor over the state’s sizable budget deficit, 80% of male voters think New York would be better off if most incumbents were defeated, a view shared by just 61% of women voters. Men also feel more strongly that their own legislator should not be reelected.
White voters are nearly three times as likely as African-Americans to think most of the current legislators need to go.
Eighty-two percent (82%) of Republicans and 89% of voters not affiliated with either major party think the state would be better off if most incumbents in the legislature are defeated this November. Just 52% of Democrats agree.
Roughly two-thirds of GOP voters and unaffiliateds blame the state legislature for New York’s budget problems, a view shared by 44% of Democrats. Thirty-three percent (33%) of Democratic voters point the finger at the overall economy.
Unaffiliated voters (64%) are much more likely to believe their own legislator does not deserve reelection than Republicans (52%) and Democrats (39%).
In a survey earlier this month, just 31% of New York voters said their congressman is the best person for the job, and 39% said their congressman deserves to be reelected. Most (58%) thought it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress up for reelection this year were defeated in November.
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s numbers are down very slightly this month, but he still holds near two-to-one leads over his three top Republican opponents, including newcomer Steve Levy, in the race for governor of New York.
Only 22% believe their own local legislator deserves reelection this year. Forty-nine percent (49%) say their local representative does not deserve reelection, and 29% more are undecided.
But then 56% of voters in the Empire State say the legislators are most to blame for New York’s ongoing budget crisis. Twenty-eight percent (28%) think the overall economic meltdown is the chief cause, while only nine percent (9%) blame Governor David Paterson.
Son of sfacheeem is not the answer.
Bloomberg gets a pass?
That may be what they say about the entire legislature. What is important is what they say about their state representative and state senator.
You realize with his huge campaign budget he barely won against a nobody?
From wiki,’The incumbent Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, an independent who left the Republican Party in 2008, won reelection on the Republican and Independence Party/Jobs & Education lines with 50.7% of the vote over the retiring City Comptroller, Bill Thompson, a Democrat (also endorsed by the Working Families Party), who won 46.3%.’
Much of his base stayed home. My entire family voted for the Conservative party candidate.
The best i can expect here from a poll like this is apathy come Nov. on behalf of the incumbents. I’m not hopeful we’ll see a surge for the pubbie or conservative parties here in NYS.
The state legislature is the least of NYers problems. I always said New York voters are almost as stupid as CA voters, though possibly slight more intelligent than PA voters in the past few years.
In my district in democrat Westchester County we had a special election to fill the assembly slot. No republican had even run the past two cycles. The republican won by a landslide with virtually no campaign at all!
Much of the productive class has long ago left for Vegas, Phoenix and Charlotte. Upstate is increasingly a world of the elderly, subsidized farmers, highly-paid school teachers and a growing welfare underclass.
Their self-interest will likely lead them to vote for the status quo.
Who is John Galt?
That means that 31% are relatives and/or are on the payroll of NYS incumbents.
Hint to NYers. You’re not going to fix this problem by firing the existing legislators and replacing them with other liberals and moderates. You need to elect conservatives.
Exactly. They we’ll probably re-elect their reps because they are the “good” guys with seniority.
And they have to replace their national congress critters.
Watch. 99 percent of them will get re-elected.
Police: Teen shoots classmate, self at NY station Now, was it a hate crime?
New York Denies Indian Point (nuclear power plant) a Water Permit
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Actions speak louder than words.
I want to see what these NYers do come election time, whether they really have the guts to kick ALL the incumbents out, or only the Republican incumbents.
Ouch.
Thanks for the ping!
My state representative preceeded my by four years, first as an assemblyman and now as a senator and I moved into my house in 1980.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.