- NYers Support Congress Impeaching & Removing Trump 55-38%
- Biden & Warren Share Lead Among NY Dems; Sanders Close Behind
- 40% Watch ½-Hour+ of Cable News Daily; CNN Most Trusted Station
- Thumbs Down for Dividing NY Into 2 States: 70%+ Downstate; 56% Upstate
Loudonville, NY. Divided along partisan lines, New Yorkers support impeaching and removing President Trump 55-38 percent. Impeachment and removal is supported by 79 percent of Democrats and opposed by 81 percent of Republicans, with independents closely divided, according to today’s new Siena College Poll of registered New York State voters. By a 60-34 percent margin, voters say Trump has taken actions that warrant an impeachment investigation, and by a 62-34 percent margin, voters say the House is justified in conducting an impeachment investigation. Similarly, voters say they trust House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over Trump 57-30 percent.
Among New York Democrats, former Vice President Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are each favored by
21 percent; Biden had led Warren by five points last month. Biden is still seen as the most likely Democrat to beat Trump, although Warren has cut that gap in half. Four in ten New Yorkers watch at least a half hour of cable news daily, and by a 13-point margin, a plurality of voters says they most trust CNN for unbiased news.
“In these hyperpartisan times, it is not particularly surprising that Republicans oppose impeaching and removing Trump from office 81-14 percent and Democrats support it 79-13 percent, while independents lean, ever so slightly, toward impeachment, 49-47 percent,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “Downstate suburban and white voters are closely divided on the question, while New York City, black, Latino, and young voters are strongly in support of removing the President, as are a plurality of upstaters.
“On questions regarding whether the President’s actions warrant an impeachment investigation, the House is justified in conducting an impeachment investigation, and whether voters more trust Trump or Pelosi, Democrats are more intensely against the President than Republicans are in support of him. Independents side with Democrats by nearly twenty points on each of those questions,” Greenberg said. “So, while the partisans are squarely in their respective corners, independents look more like Democrats on the investigation and actions taken by the President, but independents are not yet convinced that impeachment is the way to proceed.”
Warren Catches Biden in Support Among New York Democrats; He Still Seen Having Best Chance to Win
Asked which candidate they want to see be their party’s presidential nominee, Biden and Warren each garner support from 21 percent of Democrats, Biden down one point from September and Warren up four points from last month. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is close behind with 16 percent support, up one point from last month, while California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg each have four percent support. When asked who has the best chance to win in 2020, 30 percent say Biden, down from 37 percent last month, with Warren at 18 percent, up from 13 percent, and Sanders at 12 percent, up one point from last month.
“Biden no longer holds the title of frontrunner in the Empire State, as he shares the lead with Warren. With six months until New Yorkers cast their ballots in the presidential sweepstakes, a quarter of Democrats are still undecided, and no candidate has even that much support. This race remains wide open,” Greenberg said.
“Warren leads Biden by four points with men, while Biden has a slight two-point edge with women. Warren leads with white voters by seven points, while Biden leads with Latinos by eight points. Black voters are more closely divided, with Biden leading Sanders by just two points. Sanders leads with voters under 35; Warren leads with voters 35-54; and Biden leads with voter 55 and older,” Greenberg said.
Cable News Watched Few Days a Week by 56%; Daily by 40%; CNN Trusted More than Fox & MSNBC
Forty percent of New Yorkers spend at least a half hour daily watching one of the 24-hour cable news channels. Another 16 percent watch at least a half hour a day of cable news a few days a week, with 21 percent watching that much once in a while. One in five never watch. CNN is the cable news channel most trusted by 35 percent of New Yorkers, followed by Fox News, 22 percent, and MSNBC at 21 percent. One in seven trust none of them.
“Lots of New Yorkers are getting at least some of their news from the 24-hour cable news channels. Republicans are more likely to watch daily than Democrats or independents. Downstate suburbanites are more avid viewers than New York City or upstate voters. And voters 55 and older are more than twice as likely to watch cable news daily than are those under 35,” Greenberg said.
“A plurality of Democrats, 45 percent, and independents, 33 percent, say they trust CNN for the most unbiased news. For Republicans, Fox News, 51 percent, is the runaway choice for most unbiased cable news channel. MSNBC is the second choice for Democrats and the third choice for both Republicans and independents,” Greenberg said. “Black, Latino and younger voters all rank CNN first and Fox a distant third. Older and downstate suburban voters both rank their order of trustworthiness as Fox, CNN and MSNBC.”
Two-Thirds of New Yorkers Oppose Dividing the Empire State into Two States
Dividing New York into two states – New York City combined with the downstate suburbs as one state, and the other 51 counties as another state – is opposed by 66 percent and supported by 25 percent of voters.
“Nearly three-quarters of New York City voters, more than two-thirds of downstate suburbanites and a clear majority of upstaters oppose dividing New York into two states. It is also opposed by more than three-quarters of Democrats, 56 percent of independents and half of Republicans,” Greenberg said. “While some have talked about breaking New York into two states and there is a bill before the Legislature to do that, there is little support for such a move by any demographic group.”
Cuomo Favorability Holds Steady; Job Performance Up a Little, Still Under Water
Governor Andrew Cuomo has a 49-47 percent favorability rating, unchanged from 48-46 percent in September. His job performance rating is 41-57 percent, up from 38-59 percent last month and 34-64 percent in August.
“Cuomo’s favorability rating remained in positive territory – barely. His job performance rating, while still very much under water, has improved by a net 14 points in the last two months,” Greenberg said.
Voters Strongly Supportive of Providing Financial Opportunities for NCAA Athletes
By 63-29 percent, voters support allowing college student-athletes to receive compensation for the use of their name, image or likeness. By a similar 60-30 percent margin, voters support requiring all New York colleges to take 15 percent of revenue from athletic ticket sales and divide that revenue among all their student athletes.
“New Yorkers are strongly supportive of two potential proposals that would compensate student athletes,” Greenberg said. “While Democrats are overwhelmingly supportive and independents strongly supportive of both proposals, Republicans are closely divided on both. Voters from upstate and the downstate suburbs are very supportive of both proposals, while New York City voters are overwhelmingly supportive.”
Odds & Ends
- Trump recorded his lowest favorability rating, 30-67 percent, since October 2017, when it was 28-68 percent.
- Trump is not the only Republican facing an under-water favorability rating with New York’s blue electorate:
- Vice President Mike Pence – 34-55 percent
- Sec. of State Mike Pompeo– 25-46 percent
- Sen. Mitch McConnell – 21-53 percent
- Attorney General William Barr – 20-45 percent
- Congress’ top two Democrats have virtually identical favorability ratings: Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s is 49-42 percent, from 47-41 percent last month, and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s is 49-41 percent, from 48-39 percent.
- For the first time, New Yorkers do not oppose the new law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license It is supported by 48 percent and opposed by 47 percent, up from 45-50 percent last month.
This Siena College Poll was conducted October 6-10, 2019 by telephone calls conducted in English to 742 New York State registered voters. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage points (+/- 6.5 percentage points for 340 Democrats) including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline (ASDE) and cell phone (Dynata) telephone numbers from within New York State. Data was statistically adjusted by age, party by region, race/ethnicity, and gender to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Steve Greenberg at (518) 469-9858. For survey crosstabs: www.Siena.edu/SCRI/SNY.
