Politics on the Hudson

Voter anger over state government continues to rise, with a statewide poll today finding that 77 percent of New Yorkers think the state Legislature is dysfunctional.

The Quinnipiac University poll found voters disapprove 72 percent to 18 percent of the way the Legislature is handling its job, the lowest score ever by the Connecticut-based polling institute.

The poll is also the second in a month to find that voters are so fed up that they are ready to dump their current state senator—a shift in opinion because voters typically still support their hometown lawmakers regardless of the turmoil at the Capitol.

Forty-nine percent of voters say that almost everyone in the state Senate – including their own state senator – deserves to be thrown out, while 40 percent say their senator should be re-elected.

A Siena College poll last month found that by a 40 percent-to-31 percent margin, voters would back a challenger in the Senate over the incumbent in 2010.

“Dysfunctional is practically a synonym for the New York state Legislature and voters want a change,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac poll.

“While voters tend to like their own legislators, almost half of New Yorkers are ready to throw out their own state senator in a general house cleaning.”

The Legislature has been under fire for years for having a poorly run system that heavily favors the majority party and is swayed to help incumbents stay in power.

The criticism hit a peak in June when Democrats’ tenuous hold of the Senate was upended in a coup by two Democrats and 30 Republicans, bringing Senate business to a 31-day standstill. Democrats regained power July 9 when the two dissident Democrats rejoined the conference.

By a 50 percent to 48 percent margin, voters said the Senate debacle left them “embarrassed to be New Yorkers,” with voters evenly split in blaming Democrats and Republicans.

To solve the state’s problems, 64 percent of voters said the state should hold a constitutional convention, which would allow the public to change the state constitution. And 70 percent would want an independent commission draw legislative district lines in 2012, which advocates say would create more competitive elections.

By a margin of 54 percent to 37 percent, voters support amending the constitution so the governor can name a lieutenant governor when the position is vacant.

Gov. David Paterson appointed Richard Ravitch as lieutenant governor last month amid the Senate deadlock because there was no clear succession were Paterson unable to serve as governor.
Republicans are challenging Paterson’s appointment of Ravitch, and the case being heard later today in state appeals court in Brooklyn.

|  Email This