Nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers blame Biden for migrant crisis: poll
Nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers blame Biden for migrant crisis: poll
The overwhelming majority of New York voters blame President Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control, a new poll released Tuesday reveals.
Carl Campanile - OCT 24, 2023
The overwhelming majority of New York voters blame President Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control, a new poll released Tuesday reveals.
The Siena College survey found that a stunning 84% of voters consider the influx of migrants a serious problem, with 57% identifying it as a “very” serious problem. Only 12% of respondents said the problem is not serious.
“It’s a sad case and Biden doesn’t even care. This is a federal problem and has always been a federal problem,” said Maria Ortiz, 37, works in retail and says she constantly sees migrants begging on the train with their babies.
“I’m not voting for him. I voted to get him in office and it’s [been] my biggest regret since,” she said at Jamaica Station in Queens.
Nearly two-thirds of voters — 64% — flunked the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant influx, while only 29% approved.
The poll suggests the crisis at the southern border that has swamped the Big Apple with the thousands of asylum seekers is dragging down Democrat Biden’s popularity even in blue-leaning New York.
“While other issues in Washington and abroad have largely driven the news cycle over the last few weeks, the influx of migrants to New York remains top of mind for voters, with 84% saying it’s a serious – 57% very serious – problem for the state,” said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.
“Seldom do we see an issue where at least 79% of Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, upstaters, downstaters, Blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics, Jews, and Protestants all agree – that the migrant influx is a serious problem.”
The survey indicates that even immigrant-friendly New York has reached the breaking point with the unrelenting crisis.
Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64%, say New Yorkers have done enough for new migrants and must now work to “slow the flow” of migrants from the border, compared to 29% who say the state should accept and work to assimilate them. That’s a higher figure than the 58% of voters who said so in August.
Mayor Eric Adams was roundly criticized for saying the migrant crisis would “destroy New York City” without aggressive federal intervention. But 58% of voters said they agreed with Adams’s statement, and the support of his dire claim was consistent from all regions of the state.
54% of voters said migration has been more of a burden, while just 32% said it’s a benefit, a worse figure than in the prior August poll.
Biden, 80, has trouble with his own base. A majority of New York Democratic voters — 52% — said they want a nominee other than Biden to be the party’s standard bearer for president. Only 41% of Democrats said they want him as the nominee for re-election.
Thomas Barnes, a 44-year-old transit mechanic, predicted a “huge red wave” in the 2024 contest.
“If this election goes any other way, I think it is time for the American citizens to take a good look at our election system.“
“Biden’s funding two proxy wars, Americans are not only broke, it’s getting worse — the crime rate is sky high. Law abiding citizens are afraid for their lives. I’m a transit worker, I see shit every night. Democratic policy is what got us to this point,” he said, while adding he also blamed Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot for sending migrants to sanctuary cities.
“The working class is getting squeezed to nothing. We got nothing left. It’s our tax dollars, not the rich. I think Donald Trump has a really good shot [with] demographics that have historically voted Democrat — it’s all over social media. Black people are done with the Democrat party. It’s promise after promise during election season. Tons of pandering and no follow through. No delivery.”
His favorability and job approval ratings are underwater and he leads former Republican President Donald Trump — who is fighting four indictments — just 46% to 37% in a hypothetical matchup, with the rest of the voters undecided. His lead over Trump is shaved to 7 percentage points if Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West run on minor party lines.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who has fought the opening of migrant shelters on her Staten Island turf, said, “New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of Democrats’ open borders.
“From President Biden to Governor Hochul to Mayor Adams, they have created an unsustainable and unsafe crisis at the expense of their own citizens,” Malliotakis continued.
“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand should stop holding up our Border Security Act that passed the House in May and end this madness.”
Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who lost his seat to Malliotakis three years ago said the president “can’t ignore” the migrant issue.
“The Biden administration and Democrats have to show they can effectively and humanely manage the migrant issue or face serious election consequences,” said Rose.
“This could make the 2022 backlash over riots and crime look like a walk in the park,” he said.
Rose predicted Biden will carry New York in the presidential race next year because of the overwhelming Democratic vote in NYC. But Democratic candidates for Congress could lose if Biden fares poorly at the top of the ticket in the suburbs and upstate, he said.
In terms of popularity, 52% of voters said they had an unfavorable view of Biden compared to 45% who had a favorable view. Similarly, 51% of respondents disapproved of his job performance while 46% approved.
A staggering 65% of New Yorkers say the United States is going in the wrong direction under a Biden presidency, while just 25% said it’s on the right track with the remainder undecided.
Felix Ramos, a 26-year-old security worker, said if the polling trend continued, Biden would have to blame himself.
“New York might just become a red state, and that’s when you know you did a bad job as a president.”
Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-1 and the last GOPer to carry New York in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan in 1984. But last year, Republican Lee Zeldin ran a competitive race for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the GOP picked up congressional seats.
“And also true is that right now, Biden has his worst-ever New York favorability and job approval ratings,” said Siena’s Greenberg. “The good news for Biden is the election is more than a year away. The bad news is there’s more bad news,” Greenberg said.
“While 70% of Democrats view Biden favorably, and 70% of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing, 52% of Democrats say they want a different presidential nominee in 2024.”
Zeldin, for his part, said “President Biden should start preparing a concession speech” if the trend continued.
“If New York is close, you can only imagine where voters are heading in swing states,” the former Long Island congressman said.
“There is an intensified desire for a correction over disastrous one-party Democratic rule in New York.”
Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams’ handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.
Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.
Only 37% of respondents statewide approve of Hochul’s handling of the migrant crisis, while 52% disapprove.
Public safety remains a major concern — 59% of voters statewide say crime has gotten worse over the past year, while just 9% said it’s gotten better and 28% said the same.
In New York City, 51% of voters said crime has gotten worse, while 33% said the same and just 12% better.
That’s a potential problem for Adams, who made bolstering public safety his top campaign pledge for City Hall in 2021.
The survey of 1,225 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 15-19, after the terrorist group’s Hamas invasion and slaughter of Israelis and Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza. It has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
The poll found that 57% of New Yorkers support providing more military and economic aid to Israel, compared to 32% opposed.
Meanwhile, 51% of responders back providing more military and economic aid to Ukraine while 38% were opposed.
“New York needs help and we have been asking for help but all [Biden] does is send help to other countries and lounge on the beach. Pathetic,” said Ortiz, the Queens straphanger.
On the Middle East war, 50% of voters agreed with the statement that Israel must do everything it can to get back the hostages taken by Hamas, but Israeli attacks in Gaza will largely hurt innocent Palestinian civilians more than anyone else
But 32% of voters agreed with the statement that after the surprise terrorist attacks Hamas carried out on Israeli civilians, Israel must do everything it can in the Gaza territory to make sure it never happens again, regardless of casualties.
https://nypost.com/2023/10/24/news/two-thirds-of-new-yorkers-blame-biden-for-migrant-crisis-poll/