Siena Poll shows voter attitudes towards state budget proposals
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- The budget deadline is a little less than a week away. New York voters are weighing in on proposals in a new Siena poll.
Governor Kathy Hochul is still sticking by her proposal to make changes to bail reform. Her goal is to give judges more discretion and remove the least restrictive means standard for serious offenses—something some in her own party are against.
"The voters are with the governor on this one," explained Steve Greenberg Nearly 3/4 of voters— 72% support it compared to 20% who oppose it. And this may surprise some people. It’s got support from 69% of republicans, 71% of independents, and 76% of democrats, so by a small margin, Democrats support that proposal even more than republicans do.
A recent Siena Poll also found that when it comes to the Governor’s proposal to increase tuition for SUNY up to 3% at most schools and up to 6% at the University Centers of Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook, a majority of New Yorkers oppose it at 64%.
"It is opposed strongly by Democrats, Republicans, Independents. The last time Siena asked about this question back in January when the governor first proposed it very comparable results.
Both the Senate and the Assembly also are against raising tuition in their one house budgets.
Voters were more divided 49% to 40% on the issue of mandating all new buildings under seven stories built after 2026 and all new buildings seven stories or taller built after 2028 use electricity— rather than gas— for heating and cooking.
"The governor put forth mandates, the legislature has resisted mandates. We know that voters support incentives, so how the governor and legislature negotiate this and decide which carrots and which sticks to go with, that needs to be determined.
The state budget is due on Saturday.