NY: Plurality say, “Give Sandy Victims $10K to Rebuild”, 48% to 33%
NJ: Split – 43% Prefer Tear Down
Loudonville, NY & New Brunswick, NJ – A 15-point plurality of New Yorkers (48% to 33%) would rather see some of the federal money being allocated to the state for Sandy relief used to provide homeowners with $10,000 to rebuild rather than to have damaged properties bought from willing owners, torn down and turned into open space. In New Jersey, voters are evenly divided with 43 percent preferring using federal relief to buy damaged properties and turn them into open space while an identical percentage favors partially funding victims rebuilding as long as they stay where they are for at least two years. Results are from the Siena College (SRI) and Rutgers-Eagleton polls based upon responses the two centers separately garnered from respondents in the two states.
“Jersey Shore residents are just as evenly split as most of the state on the best way to use these Sandy relief funds,” said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll and professor of political science at Rutgers University. “But those living in the northwest exurban counties do have a preference: there 56 percent prefer buying damaged properties and tearing them down. Garden Staters under 30 strongly support rebuilding, while middle-aged and older residents strongly support buyouts. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s popularity does not seem to make any difference, perhaps because while he initially focused entirely on rebuilding, more recently he has also supported using federal funds for buyouts. ”
“In New York, every demographic group, Republicans, Democrats, New York City residents, Suburban and especially Upstaters, would rather see the money go to support committed homeowners rebuild than to tear down the properties and turn them into public lands despite New York’s popular Governor, Andrew Cuomo, having expressed support for buying, tearing down and making public the damaged and threatened properties,” according to Dr. Don Levy, SRI’s Director.
The SRI component of the Rutgers-Eagleton/Siena Sandy Relief Poll was conducted April 2 – 4, 7 – 10, 2013 by random telephone calls to 813 New York adults via landline and cell phones. Data was statistically adjusted by age and gender to ensure representativeness. SRI reports this data at a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of + 3.4 points. Registered voters account for 85% (n=687) of the sample and are reported with a margin of error of +/- 3.7. For more information or comments, please call Dr. Don Levy, Director Siena College Research Institute, at 518-783-2901. Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at www.siena.edu/sri/research .
The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll was conducted by telephone April 3-7, 2013 with a scientifically selected random sample of 923 New Jersey adults. Data are weighted to represent known parameters in the New Jersey population, using gender, age, race, and Hispanic ethnicity matching to 2010 US Census Bureau data. All results are reported with these weighted data. The sampling error for 923 adults is +/-3.2 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence level. Visit our blog at http://eagletonpollblog.wordpress.com for additional commentary. Follow the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RutgersEagletonPoll and Twitter @EagletonPoll.
