New Sienna Poll Shows New Yorkers Agree on “Some” Issues

The Sienna Research Institute in Albany has released the results of their latest poll, and believe it or not, they've found some issues that New Yorkers agree on. 

While the big headline that came out of Sienna's poll was the fact that U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik has narrowed the gap between her and Governor Kathy Hochul if indeed the two meet in next year's race for the Governor's mansion. Hochul who had previously held a 23-percent lead over Stefanik now has a 14-point lead over the congresswoman. Still, the majority of New Yorkers, 49% - 37% feel it would be bad if Stefanik became Governor of New York, according to Sienna's Steven Greenberg.

But, there are some issues New Yorker's on both sides of the isle actually agree on.

"A proposed law that would require food stores & retail establishments to accept cash, even if they prefer credit cards or other forms of payment," has most New Yorkers on the positive side. Republicans, Democrats and Independents agree by a margin of 79% to 9% that cash should remain an option.

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"A proposal to provide federal funding to police departments to provide child care options for police officers" is supported by most New York voters, despite their party affiliation, 60% to 20%.

Meanwhile, the proposal that passed for New York schools that requires some kind of a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for students is also popular among New Yorkers of all political persuasions. Once again, New Yorkers agree by a margin of 60% to 24% that there should be restrictions on students and smart phones during school hours.

Similarly, a proposal to develop a zero-emission nuclear energy power plant in New York is supported by all demographics, 49% to 26%. Republicans, Independents and Democrats all had similar "for and against" margins in the Sienna Poll breakouts.

Areas where there was solid disagreement between voters based on party affiliation included issues like abortion and mid-decade redistricting.