Q Poll: New Yorkers' Support For Marriage Equality Depends On Certain Factors

by: robert.harding

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 10:13:09 AM EST

The subject of marriage equality was brought up in the poll and deserves its own post, mainly because there are a few key factors at play that affect the support (or opposition) for marriage equality.

The Q poll found that 47 percent of New Yorkers support marriage equality and 46 percent oppose it. There are a small percentage of individuals - seven percent - who don't know or have no opinion on the issue.

Support for marriage equality in the Q poll has fluctuated slightly this year. In May, support and opposition to equality were even at 46 percent. In June, however, that increased to 51 percent (a majority of voters) saying they supported marriage equality with 41 percent opposing.

This Q poll breaks it down to where the support and opposition come from. And the three major factors at work are age, education and income.

AGE

The most support for marriage equality in terms of age falls in the obvious category: Young people ages 18 to 34. This is where 58 percent of respondents said they support marriage equality while only 37 percent oppose it. This isn't surprising, as these numbers are in line with what we have seen in other states where marriage equality is a hot-button issue.

Even though that younger generation is where strong support lies, there is support for marriage equality in the 35 to 54 age group. More respondents - 48 percent - support marriage equality than those who oppose it (45 percent). This age group, like in another states, is considered the turning point.

When the question is asked of those over 55, the support for marriage equality decreases significantly to 37 percent with 56 percent opposing equal rights.

Therefore, there is a strong conclusion to make: The younger a person is, the more likely they are to support marriage equality. Or to go the other way, the older a person is, the more likely they are to oppose marriage equality.

INCOME

Who knew that one of the factors at work in the marriage equality debate is income? But that's exactly what the Q poll tells us.

In the category of those making under $50,000, 42 percent said they support marriage equality while 51 percent said they oppose it. Support became stronger in the $50,000 to $100,000 population with 46 percent supporting marriage equality and 48 percent saying they opposed marriage equality.

The greatest support for marriage equality comes from those making over $100,000. A strong majority of these individuals - 59 percent - said they support marriage equality while only 34 percent said they opposed it.

The conclusion to draw from the poll is a clear one. The greater a person's income, the more likely they are to support marriage equality. The lower the person's income, the more likely they are to oppose marriage equality.

EDUCATION

The education of voters plays a big role in where they stand on certain issues and who they vote for, what party they support, among other things. This is a fact we have known for some time. You can tell a lot by a voter just based on one question: Do you have a college education (or more specifically, a college degree)?

The Q poll found that there was opposition to marriage equality among those without a college education. In this group, 52 percent of those surveyed said they opposed marriage equality and 41 percent said they supported it. Those numbers aren't bad, although they do reinforce the point about education and politics.

It should be no surprise that those with a college education supported marriage equality (59 percent) in huge numbers compared to those who opposed it (35 percent).

The more education a person has, the more likely they are to support marriage equality. Education has a huge impact on this and, I might argue, that the college experience opens your mind up to a diverse audience. On a personal level, I didn't have any friends among the LGBT community in high school (at least at the time). But in college, I encountered many people, including those who lived in a nearby room or went to the same classes as I did that were a part of the LGBT community.

CONCLUSION

I have made other conclusions pertinent to the individual subjects, but there is also one conclusion to draw from this poll that couldn't be made in the other areas. This issue is highly complicated. For progressives, we see this as a cut-and-dry issue. We should grant equality to everyone, not just a certain group and we should not let outside influences (i.e. religious leaders) tell us otherwise. I know that African Americans have opposed marriage equality efforts. How soon they have forgotten their own plight and their own efforts to gain equality. Religious leaders forget the beginnings of our country, when this nation was founded by a large group of those seeking religious freedom. If equality was important to them (and presumably still is), it should be important to us all. If we don't live by that guiding principle, we fail to live up to our founders who said in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We must not forget those words. They are not reserved for one group over another. They are reserved for everyone who calls this country home and who deserve to be treated with the proper respect and afforded the same rights as everyone else.  

Q Poll: New Yorkers Give Legislature All-Time Low Approval Rating

by: robert.harding

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 09:31:21 AM EST

Only these records aren't ones to be proud of.

In today's Q poll, the New York State Legislature has its worst approval and disapproval rating of all time. The legislature's approval rating of 17 percent is the worst it has ever been and the disapproval rating of 72 percent is also a record. When you consider the all-time best approval rating in the Q poll for the legislature is 34 percent, 17 percent doesn't seem that bad. But with 72 percent of respondents disapproving of the job the Assembly and Senate are doing, it is hardly a good thing.

This is how the approval/disapproval rating breaks down:

- Only 24 percent of Democrats and nine percent of Republicans and approve of the job legislators are doing in Albany. Disapproval among Democrats is at 64 percent while Republican disapproval stands at 81 percent. Independents are in the middle, with 16 percent approving of the legislature and 74 percent disapproving.

- Men have a more negative view of the legislature than women. Only 10 percent of men approve of the legislature's work and 81 percent disapprove. Women are up slightly with 23 percent approval and 64 percent disapproval. Among races, white respondents only gave the legislature a 12 percent job approval rating while giving an 80 percent disapproval rating. The legislature received a 37 percent approval rating from black respondents and a 48 percent disapproval rating among the group. Hispanics were also a little more positive, with 30 percent approving of the legislature's job and 49 percent disapproving.

- The regional numbers show that the legislature isn't too well liked in any area of the state. The numbers in New York City are the best - 22 percent approval/64 percent disapproval - and it only gets worse from there. In the suburbs, the legislature has ratings of 15 percent approval/77 percent disapproval. Upstate is the worst (as expected) with 14 percent of upstate approving of the legislature's job and 77 percent disapproving. The urban areas of upstate gave the worst numbers of all, with only nine percent approving and 81 percent disapproving.

- When respondents were asked how satisfied they are about the direction of things in New York State, those numbers are also all-time lows. Only two percent said they were "very satisfied" and 22 percent said they were "somewhat satisfied." Three-quarters of respondents said they were either somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (37 percent said somewhat, 38 percent said very).

- There is more support for a wage freeze than layoffs. Two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents said they would support a wage freeze while only 44 percent said they would support layoffs for state employees in an effort to balance the state budget.

- Even with such high disapproval ratings, two percent of respondents said they would rate the state legislature as the best in the nation with 27 percent saying that the legislature is "among the best." With 43 percent saying that the legislature is among the worst and 15 percent saying that the legislature is THE worst, those numbers are somewhat better than the disapproval ratings given earlier in the survey.

- There is strong support for a constitutional convention. A majority of respondents - 63 percent - said they would support a constitutional convention. Only 21 percent would oppose such a convention.

- Respondents would rather have an independent nonpartisan commission to draw districts than allowing the legislature to do so. Nearly three-quarters of respondents - 73 percent - support an independent commission over allowing the legislature to draw the lines.  

NY-Gov, NY-Sen: Q Poll: Paterson Behind Cuomo; Thompson Leads Gillibrand

by: robert.harding

Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 10:25:47 AM EST

For Governor David Paterson, the Q Poll has one piece of good news. His favorable rating is up to 38 percent - the highest it has been since earlier this year. The last four Q Polls had Paterson's favorable rating under 30 percent. That favorable rating is padded by New York City, where respondents had a 49 percent favorable rating of Paterson. Elsewhere, Paterson's favorable rating was between 31 to 35 percent.

In the hypothetical Democratic primary between Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Cuomo wins 60 percent to 23 percent. Paterson would defeat Republican Rick Lazio 41 percent to 37 percent but Cuomo would win easily over Lazio 62 percent to 22 percent.

In the race for the seat currently held by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, 2009 New York City mayoral candidate Bill Thompson would defeat Gillibrand in a primary, according to the poll. Among registered Democrats, Thompson beats Gillibrand 41 percent to 28 percent.

What is interesting about this though is that Gillibrand fares better than Thompson against Rudy Giuliani in the general election. Giuliani would defeat Gillibrand 50 percent to 40 percent while the former New York City mayor would knock off Thompson by a 52 percent to 36 percent vote.

Gillibrand's favorable rating is similar to where it was when she was appointed to the post. She has a 26 percent favorable rating - only one percentage point higher than what it was in January 2009.

For Thompson, the favorable rating isn't much better. His favorable rating comes in at 25 percent, so while he might be ahead of Gillibrand in a primary, his favorable rating isn't higher and is right on par with Gillibrand. So while some question Gillibrand's viability as a candidate, her prospective challengers have never fared any better in this department.

But perhaps the most interesting finding in the poll was Governor Paterson's job approval rating. His favorable rating and electoral ratings aside, his job approval rating is at 40 percent. His disapproval rating is at 49 percent. So while his disapproval rating is still high, having the approval rating he has at this point is encouraging for him. It also might help him in his argument that he can run in 2010 and be a viable candidate, although other polls down the road might change that.

NY-Sen: Q Poll: Cuomo Leads Among Contenders For Senate Appointment

by: robert.harding

Wed Jan 14, 2009 at 11:02:01 AM EST

New York State voters have cooled on Caroline Kennedy and more voters now prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 31 - 24 percent for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney gets 6 percent, with 5 percent for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, 2 percent for U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, 18 percent for someone else and 14 percent undecided.

Still, voters say 38 - 33 percent that Gov. David Paterson will appoint Ms. Kennedy to the U.S. Senate.

Cuomo leads Kennedy 31 - 20 percent among upstate voters and 36 - 22 percent in the suburbs, while Kennedy gets 31 percent of New York City voters to Cuomo's 29 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Men back Cuomo 32 - 23 percent while women back him 31 - 25 percent.

New York State voters say 48 - 37 percent that Kennedy is not qualified to be a U.S. Senator and 40 - 37 percent that she would not be a good Senator. Democrats say 47 - 35 percent that she is qualified, while Republicans say 65 - 24 percent that she is not qualified. Independent voters say 51 - 34 percent that she is not qualified.

Maurice Carroll, the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, summed up this situation best:

"There's only one New Yorker whose opinion counts, of course, Gov. David Paterson. And a plurality of the rest of us still think that Paterson will pick Kennedy. So far, at least, Reps. Gillibrand, Maloney and Israel have no more than local recognition. All three get just a smattering of support."

Carroll is right: The only opinion that counts in this process is Governor Paterson. That is why the process needs to be open.

Aside from Cuomo and Kennedy, I don't think that Gillibrand, Israel and Maloney should be counted out because of their local support. All three have strong cases to make. There is still a good chance that either of those three (or someone else) could be appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat.