| The Siena poll released today reveals that New Yorkers are supporting Governor David Paterson more and more and that "TaxCutNow" is preferred by more New Yorkers than "TaxCapNow."
According to the poll, Paterson has a 57 percent favorable rating - tied with last month's number. Seven percent rated Paterson's job performance as excellent, up from six percent last month while 41 percent rated his job performance as good, up from 38 percent last month.
Paterson also would fair better in a Democratic primary against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Last month, the poll found that Paterson would beat Cuomo 43 percent to 31 percent in a primary. This month, Paterson's numbers increase to 51 percent and Cuomo's drop to 21 percent - a 30 point lead for Paterson.
The only downside for Paterson in the poll comes in a head-to-head matchup with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Paterson did gain on Bloomberg from last month (34 percent in June compared with 37 percent this month) while Bloomberg held steady at 45 percent.
The most intriguing part of the poll was the matchup between the circuit breaker and the property tax cap. The poll found that while 69 percent of New Yorkers support a property tax cap, 75 percent of New Yorkers support a circuit breaker.
The Working Families Party, big proponents of the circuit breaker, had this to say about the poll results today.
"It's no surprise. Working and middle-class New Yorkers are choking on property taxes, and only the so-called "circuit breaker" approach will actually lower anyone's taxes," said Dan Cantor, Working Families Party Executive Director. "A circuit breaker does that by giving property tax relief based on your family's ability to pay."
"Of course, we need to pay for it, and the right way is to modestly increase the rate at which very wealthy New Yorkers pay income taxes. If you do these two things - a circuit breaker for working and middle-class people and a high-end Personal Income Tax increase on people earning more than $300,000 a year, you'll start to get the state's tax system back in balance. Right now, it's totally out of whack."
A cap has its benefits. It wouldn't raise taxes, but it would necessarily lower them either. A circuit breaker would do just that. While capping taxes is better than nothing, a circuit breaker would be our best option.
Finally, one nice tidbit for you. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has a 22 percent favorable rating among New Yorkers with a 32 percent unfavorable rating. That means a majority of New York knows who Silver is and that's what that majority thinks of him. |
