NEARLY 3 OF 4 NEW YORKERS RATE STATE GOVERNMENT AS “FAIR” OR “POOR” ON ISSUES THAT MATTER MOST.

EDUCATION, TAXES TOP LIST OF CONCERNS IN STATEWIDE POLL

Albany, New York – May 25, 2006 – Nearly three-quarters of New York residents said state government is doing a fair or poor job of dealing with the issues they consider most important, according to a poll commissioned by New York Matters and conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion from March 28 through April 7.

State government received predominantly negative ratings (fair or poor) for 18 of 20 issues touching on the economy, health care, quality of life and other areas. New Yorkers were most negative on taxes: 78 percent rated the state fair or poor on school property taxes and 80 percent on keeping taxes from hurting economic growth.

Residents were more positive than negative on only two of 20 issues presented in the poll. Fifty-seven percent rated state government excellent or good job on keeping people safe and 51 percent on promoting fair and open elections.

Other highlights of the poll include:

Issues a governor can do something about: Taxes and education topped the list when we asked residents to name the most important issue facing the state that a governor can do something about. While nearly a third of Upstate residents named taxes, just 6 percent of New York City respondents did. Big Apple residents put education at the top of their list.

What bothers them most about taxes: Sixty-eight percent of residents said they are more upset about how state government spends their tax payments, while 31 percent said they are more upset about the amount they pay.

Priorities in education: Providing a quality education to all children was the top educational priority for New Yorkers, far ahead of keeping property taxes low, ensuring schools are safe or holding local schools accountable.

Campaign for Fiscal Equity: Asked to react to possible solutions to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity school-funding case, residents strongly endorsed the option that rarely gets a hearing in Albany:  Sixty-nine percent said they favor or strongly favor shifting state funding from richer school districts to poorer ones.

Economy: New Yorkers were most negative about the state of the economy. Forty percent said it’s worse today than it was five years ago, 41 percent said it’s about the same and only 18 percent said it’s better. In contrast, residents said the state of education, health care and other issues is about the same today as it was five years ago.

Health care: Residents were most concerned about affordability. Forty-six percent said that’s the top priority, compared to 28 percent for helping the uninsured, 14 percent for increasing access to care and 11 percent for ensuring quality.

Political parties: Dissatisfaction with state government predominates in both political parties. Just 21 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of Republicans rated the government’s overall performance as excellent or good.

The study interviewed 2,492 New York State residents, including the statewide benchmark of 850 residents. The statewide benchmark has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. That includes 303 Democrats and 193 Republicans, and the margin of error for these groups is plus or minus 5.6 percentage points and plus or minus 7 percentage points, respectively.

At least 350 residents were interviewed in each of seven regions across the state. The margin of error for each of the regions is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points. Poll results are available at www.newyorkmatters.org.

Future news releases will highlight the results for each region along with breakdowns by various demographic characteristics. The New York Matters project will continue through the fall with a series of research briefs and community forums on the issues.

Click here to see the full report. (PDF)