| The release of today's Siena poll has a lot of information to cover. But one of the questions posed by the poll is worth highlighting.
Respondents were asked about the integrity, work ethic, fairness and intelligence of today's elected officials in New York compared to those 40 or 50 years ago.
By a margin of 54-7 percent, voters say today's New York politicians have less integrity than their counterparts from 40 or 50 years ago. By a 54-11 percent margin, voters say today's politicians work less hard for their constituents. When it comes to fairness - lack of bias and self-interest - 44 percent of voters say today's politicians are less fair, with 11 percent saying more fair. On the issue of intelligence, 30 percent say today's politicians are less intelligent and 23 percent say they are more intelligent.
"Voters are fairly evenly divided on the issue of politicians' intelligence. However, they overwhelmingly say that today's politicians have less integrity, work less hard for their constituents and demonstrate less fairness than New York politicians of 40 or 50 years ago," said Siena New York pollster Steven Greenberg. "Although older voters, Republicans and upstaters feel even more strongly, pluralities of young voters, Democrats, and New York City voters also have far less regard for today's pols than those of two generations ago.
That says a lot about the state of New York government. We do have some good elected officials, but because of the system in which they operate, they are overshadowed by the corruption, dysfunction and ineptitude.
The only area where current elected officials came close to competing with the elected officials of 40 or 50 years ago was intelligence. Everything else - fairness, integrity and work ethic - did not give today's elected officials a positive review.
The poll also found strong support for a constitutional convention. Of those surveyed, 63 percent would like to see a constitutional convention.
Steve Greenberg summed it up best when discussing the results of the question about a constitutional convention:
"While the issue of a convention is not popular with many elected officials, it is with their constituents."
We have a lot to talk about going forward. The coup that held up the New York State Senate for a month highlighted the problems in Albany. While we have supported reform for a long time, more and more citizens want Albany changed, especially with the recent events there. This poll shows that reform is on the minds of many voters. It should be on the minds of our elected officials as well. |
