New Yorkers back bail changes, taxing wealthy as budget deadline looms: Siena poll

ALBANY — New Yorkers overwhelmingly back changes to the state’s bail laws and increasing taxes on the wealthy as Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders attempt to hammer out a budget deal by Friday’s fiscal deadline, according to a new Siena College poll.

A majority of New Yorkers of all political persuasions back granting judges more discretion when setting bail for serious crimes, according to the poll released Monday.

The survey found “overwhelming support” among both Democrats and Republicans for Hochul’s plan to once again amend New York’s contentious bail laws despite concerns from critics that her approach would gut the 2019 reforms meant to ensure defendants are not jailed pretrial simply because they’re poor.

Roughly 72% of all New Yorkers back the idea of giving judges more discretion, including 76% of Democrats, 71% of independents and 69% of Republicans, according to the poll.

The support comes as crime remains a major concern for most voters with 92% saying they believe crime is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem statewide despite little evidence linking recent upticks in crime to the state’s bail reforms.

“For more than a year, at least 90% of voters have said crime is a serious problem in the state, at least 60% say very serious,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.

Hochul claims she is trying to clear up confusion for judges by eliminating the standard to impose the “least restrictive” conditions to ensure a defendant will return to court.

The proposal has drawn fierce opposition from progressive lawmakers and advocates who say the change would do nothing to increase public safety and only create more inconsistency in how bail is used.

“Gov. Hochul’s plan would invite judges to lean into their own racial biases when making bail determinations, increasing jail populations across the state without positively impacting public safety,” said VOCAL-NY civil rights campaign director, Nick Encalada-Malinowski. “It’s a racist proposal and must be stopped.”

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) have expressed little interest in revisiting the issue and did not include Hochul’s proposal in their own budget blueprints.

The poll also found bipartisan support for increasing taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents.

Democrats in the Legislature have proposed making New Yorkers who earn over $5 million a year pay slightly more in taxes, a plan that Hochul has said repeatedly she has no interest in.

More than 80% of Democrats and more than 60% of Republicans support the proposal to boost taxes to 10.8% for those making over $5 million a year and up to 11.4% for New Yorkers earning more than $25 million a year.

A majority of voters, 58%, also say they support Hochul’s proposed statewide ban on flavored tobacco while both Republicans and Democrats oppose that the governor’s plan to allow for tuition hikes at SUNY and CUNY schools.

Several other big ticket items being discussed as part of budget negotiations have voters split.

Mandates for electrification of new buildings is supported by about 49% of respondents and opposed by 40% of voters. Increasing the MTA payroll tax has voters divided evenly, 43-43% while a plan to provide health insurance to undocumented immigrants is opposed 49% to 44%.

Plans to boost building and tackle the state’s housing crisis received a lukewarm response from voters.

Hochul’s proposal to mandate municipalities increase their housing supply was supported by a 45-37% margin, while the plan from the Legislature to provide incentives to town and cities to build gained slightly more support with 54%.

Still, New Yorkers of all political stripes agree that housing is a serious issue.

“New Yorkers say the issue of affordable housing statewide is equally as serious a problem as is crime,” Greenberg said. “In their community, however, voters – particularly Democrats, independents, downstate suburbanites, and upstaters – say affordable housing is both a more serious, and even a more very serious, problem than crime.”

The Siena poll found that Hochul’s favorability and job ratings dipped slightly over the past two months but have remained relatively consistent since she assumed office.

The governor has a 43% favorability rating, down slightly from 46% in February and 48% in January. Her job approval rating stands at 52-41%, down a little from 56-40% in February and 56-36% in January.

“Hochul hit her highest favorability and job approval ratings in January — although she has never had a majority of New Yorkers viewing her favorably and has slipped a little in each of the last two months,” Greenberg said. “It will be interesting, after the dust settles from the budget battles in the coming days and weeks to see how voters grade Hochul and the Legislature.”