Siena Poll: 66% of New Yorkers Reject GOP Control of the Senate
By Mike Connery on 06/14/2010 @ 11:16 AM
The latest poll from Siena College shows an anti-incumbent mood in New York directed primarily at upstate Republicans and the Party of No.
According to the poll's findings, 66% of New Yorkers reject a GOP-controlled Senate, preferring to see the Democrats make gains in the chamber (34%) or see the Senate remain closely divided (32%) among the parties. Anti-incumbent sentiment was directed primarily at upstate Republicans, where 58% of voters preferred "someone else" to their current representative, vs. 51% in the suburbs and just 40% in New York City.
On the generic ballot, 44% preferred a Democratic Senator to just 26% Republican. Stan Greenberg of Siena puts the numbers into perspective:
“Only 35 percent of voters want to re-elect their incumbent state senator, while 50 percent prefer ‘someone else.’ It is not, however, automatically good news for Senate minority Republicans seeking to regain control. Democrats are inclined to re-elect their incumbent state senator by a 47-40 percent margin, while Republican voters prefer ‘someone else’ by an overwhelming 60-23 percent margin,” Greenberg said. “Upstate, where 20 of 25 senators are Republican, only 28 percent want to re-elect their senator and 58 percent prefer ‘someone else.’
These are not isolated numbers. This is the second poll from Siena (and third poll overall) to show that New Yorkers are overwhelmingly ready to kick Republican incumbents out of office. What's more, the poll comes on the heels of a string of bad news for Republicans, including four high-profile retirements, an underwhelming class of candidates, voter registration gains for Democrats across the state, and the felony conviction of former Republican Leader Joe Bruno.
New Yorkers remember well what four decades of Republican deals, deficits and dysfunction did to our state. They don't want to return to the bad-old-days and are ready to empower Democrats to continue our work of reforming Albany.
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