After the cost and visibility of including member-designated spending projects in the New York state budget became an issue in this year’s negotiations, the Empire Page decided to gauge how registered NYS voters feel about the practice — and the results of a new survey conducted for the Empire Page by Siena College are very clear. By large margins, New Yorkers oppose the practice and believe more transparency is necessary, and that more details should be disclosed.
When asked whether directing state spending to local projects, which has added more than $200 annually to the state’s debt for the past 8 years, was “mostly a good thing,” “mostly a bad thing,” or “mixed,” 43% said mostly bad, 33% said mostly mixed and only 8% said mostly good.
Voters who identify themselves as Independents or Republicans are somewhat more unhappy with member items than Democrats (80% and 79% versus 73% respectively). Minority voters (African-American and Latino), on the other hand, favor member items more than white voters. 16% of those who identified themselves as African-American and 19% of those who identified themselves as Latino view Member Items as mostly a good thing.
“Those in Albany who don’t believe the public knows or cares about these increasingly controversial budget matters might be surprised that only 15% of those polled either have no opinion or don’t know enough about the issue,” stated Peter G. Pollak, Editor. “As we’re seeing in some of the national polling about the spending situation in Washington, New Yorkers are increasingly skeptical of Albany’s spending priorities and decisions. The fact that fewer than 10 percent of New Yorkers believe member items is good for New York State speaks volumes.”
Voters Want Public Disclosure
When informed that the Legislature doesn’t automatically disclose to the public who gets money from Member Items or how much they get, just 5% of voters found this acceptable. 87% oppose it while 8% are not certain or don’t have an opinion.
Support for public disclosure was most popular among voters who identify themselves as independents (91% versus 89% of Republicans and 86% of Democrats). Voters from the suburbs and upstate were also more supportive of disclosure than those who live in New York City (91% and 91% versus 78%, respectively) and once again Latino voters were least in favor of disclosure (26% oppose disclosure versus 5% of African Americans and 3% of whites).
The poll of 620 registered NYS voters, conducted from 4/24 to 5/2 by Siena Research Institute for The Empire Page, has an error margin of +/- 3.9%. To see the regional, demographic, party and other cross-tab results, go to www.empirepage.com.