“Maybe – just maybe – voters don’t really disagree as much as it appears that they do.”
Truer words haven’t been spoken in quite a while, but Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg found an interesting statistic while polling New York’s voters on the tumultuous year in Washington and the fever pitch-striking midterms we’re quickly barreling towards.
The Siena College poll is released regularly, usually on or around every month, with temperature checks on state, federal, and local figures’ job approval and favorability ratings, as well as hot-button issue polls taken in man-on-the-street fashion.
Political registration crosstabs and infographics galore, it’s any political junkie’s cup of nightmare fuel.
But Greenberg provided a twist on the March update: the pollster posed six quotes to respondents – three said by Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) and three by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R-Atlantic Beach), the two presumptive nominees for governor this year.
Voters were then asked on how much they agreed or disagreed with the quotes.
Before we give you the results, we’ll give you the quotes – but we won’t tell you who said what.
Quotes 1-3
- “It is time that we cut the red tape that too often slows down projects and let communities build, so we can offer all New Yorkers the more affordable and livable state that they deserve.”
- “You can make historic investments without raising income taxes, without mortgaging the next generations, and without losing sight of what people can afford.”
- “When individuals enter this country illegally and commit crimes, I want them arrested and tried. If they’re convicted, they must be imprisoned and deported.”
Quotes 4-6
- “It’s grocery bills, utility costs, rent, property taxes, and paychecks that don’t go far enough. Families don’t need more rhetoric — they need results.”
- “Hardworking New Yorkers shouldn’t have to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table. We need to take advantage of the natural resources we have and lower utility costs.”
- “I will stand with our police, not against them. I will fight to keep violent criminals and cop-killers behind bars, because the safety of our children and neighborhoods demands it.”
Who Said What?
We’ll give it to you straight: Hochul said the first set of quotes, while Blakeman said the second set. You might not have been able to tell, and according to Siena College, these aren’t particularly controversial statements.
Between 71% and 79% of voters agreed with Hochul’s three quotes, including between 68% and 90% of Republicans – to varying degrees. On the other hand, between 77% and 88% of voters agreed with all of Blakeman’s quotes, including between 67% and 87% of Democrats.
And for those who decide virtually all elections, between 70% and 90% of Independents agreed with all six quotes.
Now, we could cherry-pick the results and say that they show how there’s more diversity of thought on the right and middle than there is on the left. Two problems: one, the poll consists of just 805 respondents, hardly enough to make that sort of extrapolation; and two, the numbers are only off marginally, not a night-and-day difference.
So, if we’re being intellectually honest, it seems that even in deep-blue New York, voters aren’t keen on being merely obsequious to one party, whose altars at which they lay their nuance for the sake of “progress” or “revolution.” In reality, they seem to agree on basic facets that should, frankly, be no-brainers. And if they were of that subservient mindset, those questions probably made them reevaluate their own prerogatives.
Obviously, the quotes are just those – quotes – and without much context and nuance, the results might seem misleading. Hochul talks about cutting red tape to ease the housing market. We agree at face value, but not if the repeat of her 2022 plan to override local zoning is part of it.
In the same way, who could disagree with Blakeman’s quote on “results” over “rhetoric?” At the same time, how exactly are those “results” accomplished?
We’re not using this as an opportunity to grill either candidate. Rather, show an inherent flaw in the poll’s line of question.
But it nonetheless spotlights that not many voters are dogmatic lap dogs for the political industrial complex. Blakeman talks about standing “with” police and not “against” them. We could name a few liberals who would probably balk before Blakeman could even get to talking about neighborhood safety.
Hochul’s quote on not raising income taxes would probably play well to a conservative, laissez-faire government voting base.
Despite its surface-level dive, the poll displays that the fierce electoral dichotomy is either fading away or was never that fierce to begin with. Movements become fads inasmuch as support seems like fealty – all while folks continue to get tired of being tired.
“Here we have three quotes from the Governor [Hochul] – who Republicans call the worst governor in America – that Republicans agree with. And we have three quotes from her challenger [Blakeman] – said by many Democrats to be another MAGA Republican – that Democrats agree with,” said Greenberg. “Maybe the divisions in our politics are more related to the ideological and media silos that voters place themselves in, rather than the actual words and promises from the candidates.”
Well said.
