- 70% of NYers Say They Feel Less Safe Than Before Pandemic; Three-Quarters Concerned They Could Be Victim of Violent Crime
- 76% Satisfied with Quality of Life in Their Neighborhood; At Least 60% Satisfied with Neighborhood Police, Transportation, Sanitation & Schools
- Huge Support: More Subway Cops; Strong Support: Metal Detectors at Subway Entrances, Breaking Up Homeless Encampments, School Covid Vaccine Mandate
Loudonville, NY. While 29% of New York City adults think Mayor Eric Adams is doing an excellent or good job as mayor, 64% say he’s doing only a fair or poor job. On three specific issues – fighting crime, addressing homelessness, and safety at Rikers Island – New Yorkers give the mayor even worse grades. But by a 53-37% margin, City residents approve of the mayor’s style, according to a new
Spectrum News NY1/Siena College Poll of New York City residents released today.
Seventy percent of New Yorkers say they feel less safe in the City today than before the pandemic, compared to 25% who feel about as safe as before the pandemic and only 3% who feel safer, and 76% said they are very (38%) or somewhat (38%) concerned that they will be a victim of violent crime. While 76% of New Yorkers say they are satisfied with the quality of life in their neighborhood – and at least two-thirds are satisfied with the level of police protection and the quality of sanitation and public transportation services in their neighborhood – 69% are concerned (43% very concerned) that a gunman could target people based on their race, religion or ethnicity in their neighborhood.
“If New Yorkers had a honeymoon with Mayor Adams, it was brief and it’s clearly over. Only 29% give him a positive rating for the job he’s doing as mayor, compared to 64% who give him a negative rating,” said Dr. Don Levy, Director, Siena College Research Institute. “About 40% of adults over 65 and Black New Yorkers view him positively, but his positive rating does not exceed 33% with respondents based on party, gender, political ideology, or borough.”
“Even worse for Adams are his job performance ratings on specific issues. About three-quarters of New Yorkers give him negative grades on both addressing homelessness and fighting crime. And at least 59% give him negative grades on transforming the NYPD, managing city services, tackling safety at Rikers Island, and running the public schools,” Levy said.
“While New Yorkers might be unimpressed with the job Adams is doing early in his term, they like his style as mayor, including a majority of voters from every borough, as well as a majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents,” Levy said. “The mayor can take some comfort as well in the fact that 36% of residents think he’s doing a better job than Bill de Blasio did as mayor, compared to 17% who say he’s doing a worse job than de Blasio, and 36% who say Adams is doing about as well as de Blasio.”
70% of NYers Feel Less Safe Now than Pre-Pandemic; 76% Concerned They Could Be Crime Victim
“Seven in ten New Yorkers say they feel less safe today than they did before the pandemic; only 3% feel safer, and 25% say they feel about as safe today as they did pre-pandemic,” Levy said. “More than three-quarters of City residents are concerned – nearly four in ten are very concerned – that they will be the victim of violent crime. While two-thirds of all adults are concerned about being a crime victim, more than eight in ten New Yorkers of color are concerned, 45% of them very concerned.
“Half of New Yorkers say they’ve changed their daily routine to feel safer, including at least 40% of adults in every borough, gender, age, race, party, or income level,” Levy said. “New Yorkers feel less safe than they did a few years ago, they’re concerned about being victimized, and half are changing the way they go about their daily affairs as a result. It’s no wonder three-quarters give Adams a negative grade on crime.”
New Yorkers Satisfied with Quality of Life in their Neighborhoods, Including Many Specific Aspects
“Three-quarters of New Yorkers say they’re satisfied with the quality of life in their neighborhood, including a high of 91% of Staten Islanders and a low of 57% of those from the Bronx,” Levy said. “More than two-thirds say they’re satisfied with police protection, sanitation services and public transportation in their neighborhood, and six in ten are satisfied with the quality of local schools. Only 55% of Bronx residents are satisfied with the level of police protection in their neighborhoods, compared to at least 65% in every other borough.
“New Yorkers are particularly unsatisfied with the affordability of housing in their neighborhoods. And although a majority of drivers on Staten Island and in Queens are satisfied with the ability to park in their neighborhood, a strong majority of those in the other three boroughs are not satisfied,” Levy said.
“While 69% of New Yorkers say they’re satisfied with the level of police protection in their neighborhoods, 69% also say they are concerned – 43% are very concerned – that a shooting could take place in their neighborhood by a gunman targeting people based on their race, religion or ethnicity,” Levy said.
Need for Mental Health Services High Since Start of the Pandemic
“More than one-third of City residents – 35% — say they or someone they know has sought mental health treatment since the start of the pandemic,” Levy said. “While only 13% of adults 65 and older sought or know someone who sought mental health treatment, nearly half – 47% – of those under 35 have or know someone who has. And an overwhelming 89% of New Yorkers support making it easier to admit those who are dangers to the public or themselves to mental health facilities.”
85% Support for More Cops in Subways & 63% Support for Metal Detectors at Subway Entrances
“From New Yorkers’ perspective, having more NYPD on the subways is a no-brainer, supported by 85%. There is also strong support for installing metal detectors at subway entrances – at least for outer borough residents – although Manhattanites lean slightly against it,” Levy said. “And Big Apple residents want the NYPD better funded – 52% would like to see the NYPD budget increased, 27% say it should stay about the same as it is, and only 17% say they want the NYPD budget decreased.
“By a 58-39% margin, New Yorkers support a COVID vaccine mandate in public schools, but there are wide demographic differences. A vaccine mandate is strongly supported in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens, closely divided in Brooklyn and strongly opposed on Staten Island. Democrats support it better than two-to-one, while Republicans oppose it by a similar margin. And New Yorkers with a child living in their household are evenly divided,” Levy said.
Odds & Ends from Siena College Poll Director Dr. Don Levy:
- “By 65-24%, New Yorkers want the Supreme Court to uphold, rather than overturn, Roe v. Wade. Three-quarters of Democrats and two-thirds of independents want it upheld, while Republicans want it overturned, 51-35%. By a slightly narrower 62-31% margin, residents also support both providing additional funding to abortion providers and financially assisting women from states where abortion is illegal to come to New York to have an abortion.”
- “During the pandemic, 48% of New Yorkers say they worked at home – at least part of the time – while for 39%, work continued as before the pandemic. To at least some degree, 62% of white New Yorkers worked from home, while only 40% of Blacks and 34% of Latinos did that.
- “Moving forward, only 17% of New Yorkers say they would not like to work at home at all – even if it were possible to do their job from home. But 32% say they would prefer to work from home five days a week.”
- “While 55% of respondents think they’ll still be living in the Big Apple five years from now, more than one-third, 36%, say they plan to live someplace else by 2027. Democrats plan to stay 64-30%, independents are near evenly divided and 57% of Republicans say they will be elsewhere in five years. Majorities of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan residents say they’ll be here in five years, while about half of Staten Islanders and Bronx residents plan on being someplace else.”
- “New Yorkers are very unhappy with the direction the City is going in. Only 32% think the City is headed on the right track, compared to 56% who say it’s headed in the wrong direction. A majority of voters from every borough think the City is headed in the wrong direction.”
- “Views on the direction of New York State are a little better, but not much. By a 46-38% margin, respondents say the state is headed in the wrong direction.”
- “New Yorkers rate the job Governor Kathy Hochul is doing a little better than Adams but her job performance rating, negative 35-54%, is underwater, even with Democrats 42-47%.”
This Spectrum News NY1/Siena College survey was conducted May 22 – June 1, 2022 by telephone calls in English and Spanish to 1,000 New York City residents. Telephone sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline (ASDE) and cell phone (Dynata) telephone numbers within New York City weighted to reflect known population patterns. Data was statistically adjusted by age, borough, race/ethnicity, education, and gender to ensure representativeness. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.1 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 Don Levy at (518) 944-0482. For survey crosstabs: www.Siena.edu/SCRI.
