Memo: New Yorkers Support Raising Taxes on the Rich and Inclusive Relief Efforts
By Gustavo Sanchez Senior Data Engineer, Data for Progress and Ethan Winter Analyst, Data for Progress
Introduction
As part of a September survey of likely voters in the state of New York, Data for Progress tested attitudes towards a slate of progressive proposals and measured attitudes towards raising revenue or cutting public services. We oversampled two battleground regions made up of competitive state senate districts: Long Island (Martinez SD-3, Gaughran SD-5, Thomas SD-6, Brooks SD-8), Hudson Valley (Harckham SD-40, Smythe SD-41, Metzger SD-42, Hinchey SD-46). The sample size for each are 344 and 329 respectively.
We find that voters across New York want to raise taxes on the wealthy, not cut essential services to fill a looming budget shortfall. In addition, voters want the state to establish a fund for excluded workers, to ensure that those left out of federal coronavirus-related relief efforts get the economic assistance they need. Lastly, voters are in favor of concerted action to stave off a housing crisis in the state, supporting, for instance, a universal eviction moratorium and forgiving rent and mortgage payments. We find these results hold in battleground State Senate districts, where voters favor taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers, funding excluded workers, and providing relief to tenants by a wide margin.
