- Voters Say New Law Enhancing Legal Protections for Abortions Will be Good for NY 63-19%; 60% Want Supreme Court to Uphold Roe v. Wade
- Crime Concerns Persist; 60% Worried About Being a Victim of Crime
- Hochul Job & ‘Re-Elect’ Ratings Rebound from April; Similar to March
Loudonville, NY. By 76-14%, voters say a new law requiring a permit to get a semi-automatic rifle – including being at least 21, passing a background check and taking a safety course – will be good for New York. By a similar 79-15% margin, voters want to see the Supreme Court uphold New York’s decades-old law requiring a license to carry a concealed handgun, according to a new Siena College poll of registered New York State voters.
A new law enhancing legal protections for individuals seeking or performing abortions in New York will be good for the state, 63-19%. By 60-24%, voters want the Supreme Court to uphold the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and declare Mississippi’s abortion law unconstitutional. Governor Kathy Hochul has a 46-37% favorability rating, compared to 44-34% in April. Her job performance rating is 41-52%, up from 36-57% in April, and 46% are prepared to re-elect her in November, compared to 44% who want ‘someone else,’ up from 40-45% in April.
“More than three-quarters of voters think the new law – requiring a permit to obtain a semi-automatic rifle going forward – will be good for New York, including at least 65% of every demographic group. It’s worth noting that 67% of Republicans and 73% of gun owners (about one-fifth of all voters) think the law will be good,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
“Likewise, more than three-quarters of voters want the Supreme Court to uphold New York’s decades-old law requiring a license to carry a concealed handgun, including 72% of gun owners and 79% of Republicans (even more than the 77% of independents),” Greenberg said. “By a smaller, 58-24% margin, voters say outlawing body or armored vests except for law enforcement will be good for the state. Two-thirds of Democrats support the ban, as do 53% of independents, 50% of Republicans, and 54% of gun owners.”
“Four years ago, marking the fifth anniversary of New York’s Safe Act – at the time, one of the strictest gun control measures in the nation – voters supported the Safe Act by a wide 61-28% margin. Now, support for needing both a permit for acquiring a semi-automatic weapon and a license for carrying a concealed weapon is even higher – across the ideological spectrum,” Greenberg said.
New Yorkers Strongly Support Enhanced Abortion Protections & Strongly Want SCOTUS to Keep Roe
“Sixty-three percent of voters say the recently passed law enhancing legal protections for those seeking or performing abortions in New York will be good for the state, including a majority of voters from every region, gender, religion, and age group, as well as Democrats and independents. A 44-34% plurality of Republicans also think it will be good for New York,” Greenberg said.
“Similarly, 60% of New Yorkers want the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade and throw out the Mississippi law in question, while only 24% want Roe overturned,” Greenberg said. “Nearly three-quarters of Democrats and a strong majority of independents want Roe upheld, while Republicans are closely divided, 41-39%, leaning toward supporting Roe. There is only a small gender gap, with 56% of men and 64% of women supporting Roe.”
Voters’ Concerns About Crime Persist; 60% Concerned About Being Crime Victim, ¼ Very Concerned
Ninety-two percent say crime is a serious problem across the state – 63% say very serious problem – up slightly from 91% and 60% in February. Closer to home, 65% say crime in their community is a serious problem – 27% very serious – from 63% and 27% in February. Six in ten say they are concerned they could be a victim of crime – 26% very concerned, up slightly from 57% and 22% in February.
“Crime continues to be an overriding issue for New Yorkers. At least 90% of voters from every party, region and race say crime is a serious problem in the state, with at least 57% saying it’s a very serious problem, including 79% of Black voters who say it’s a very serious problem,” Greenberg said.
“About two-thirds of New Yorkers think crime in their community is a serious problem, including 78% of New York City voters – 40% very serious – 61% of upstaters and 51% of downstate suburbanites,” Greenberg said.
“New Yorkers said crime was a problem in February and they continue to see it a major problem in June. A majority of voters of every region, party, race, and gender say they are concerned they could be victims of crime,” Greenberg said. “Nearly three-quarters of Black and New York City voters are concerned about being a victim.”
Hochul Job Performance & Re-elect Ratings Bounce Up from April Dip; Comparable to March
“While Hochul’s favorability rating has remained largely consistent throughout the year – between 44% and 46% of voters have viewed her favorably every month – her job performance and re-elect ratings both dipped in April and have both bounced back this month to about where they were in March,” Greenberg said.
“Hochul is strong with Democrats: 65% view her favorably, 60% give her a positive job performance rating, and 70% are prepared to elect her to a full term in November if she’s the Democratic nominee for governor,” Greenberg said. “However, 70% of Republicans view her unfavorably, 81% give her a negative job rating and 81% would prefer to vote for ‘someone else’ in November. Independents look a lot more like Republicans than Democrats when it comes to their views on Hochul, with 64% giving her a negative job rating, and 59% wanting someone else to vote for in November.”
Odds & Ends
- Voters are mixed on a proposed law prohibiting for two years the reactivation of old fossil fuel power plants to mine cryptocurrency, with 36% saying the law will be good for New York, 31% saying it will be bad for the state, and about one-third having no opinion or volunteering that it will have a mixed impact.
- New Yorkers say a law to prohibit insurance companies from imposing co-payments for treatment at an opioid treatment program will be good for the state, 51-27%. A strong majority of Democrats support that position as do pluralities of Republicans and independents.
- While 19% of voters say that the recent state gas tax suspension has had a noticeable impact on what they’re paying for gas, 55% said it hasn’t had a noticeable impact but they’re glad the state suspended the tax, and 15% said it’s had no impact and they wish the state hadn’t suspended the gas tax.
- President Joe Biden’s favorability rating ticked down to 49-46%, from 51-45% last month. His job performance rating, continued to slide and is now negative 35-65%, down from 36-62% last month, its lowest level since he’s been president.
- By a 51-37% margin, voters say New York state is headed in the wrong direction, rather than on the right track, virtually unchanged from 52-36% in April. New Yorkers’ views on the direction of the country is far worse and took a major hit this month. Now, New Yorkers think the country is headed in the wrong direction 68-25%, worsening from 57-34% in April.
- With Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries in less than two weeks, most of the candidates – excepting Hochul (and Andrew Giuliani, based on his last name) – remain largely unknown to a wide swath of voters, even voters in their own party:
- Kathy Hochul: 46-37% favorability rating with all voters (44-34% in April), and 65-19% with Democrats (60-16% in March)
- Jumaane Williams: 24-19% overall (24-20%), 40-12% with Democrats (38-14%)
- Tom Suozzi: 20-21% overall (21-18%), 23-22% with Democrats (26-16%)
- Andrew Giuliani: 27-46% overall (26-48%), 50-28% with Republicans (38-31%)
- Lee Zeldin: 21-22% overall (22-19%), 36-21% with Republicans (36-14%)
- Rob Astorino: 18-17% overall (18-20%), 32-12% with Republicans (23-16%)
- Harry Wilson: 14-11% overall (12-11%), 18-12% with Republicans (13-12%)
This Siena College Poll was conducted June 7-9 and 13, 2022, among 802 New York State registered voters with 502 voters contacted through a dual frame (landline and cell phone) mode and 300 responses drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid) of New Yorkers. Telephone calls were conducted in English and respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest person in the household. Telephone sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline (ASDE) and cell phone (Dynata) telephone numbers within New York State weighted to reflect known population patterns. Data from both collection modes (phone and web) was merged and statistically adjusted by age, party by region, race/ethnicity, education, and gender to ensure representativeness. It has an overall margin of error of + / – 3.9 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. 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.
