TOPSHOT – A young woman reacts as she speaks to Israeli rescuers in Tel Aviv, after a was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel on October 7, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill or abduct people as Israel retaliated with devastating air strikes.
A new poll among New York voters showed that there is more support for the U.S. to send aid to Israel than to Ukraine.
The Siena College poll released Tuesday morning showed that 57% of voters support sending more military and economic aid to Israel, compared to 51% who said the same for Ukraine.
On a related note, half of all responders believe Israel should do everything they can to get back the hostages taken by Hamas, but said Israeli attacks in Gaza will mostly hurt innocent Palestinian civilians more than anyone else, the poll found. A third of those polled said Israel should do whatever it takes to ensure that the attacks carried out by Hamas never happen again — regardless of casualties in Gaza.
“Democrats support more aid for Ukraine two-to-one, as do a plurality of independents, but a majority of Republicans oppose it,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
The poll also covered topics closer to home, including the issue that has proven to be top-of-mind for many New York voters: the migrant crisis that has been ongoing since summer of 2022.
Across all voters — Democrats, Republicans and independents of all races, genders and religions from upstate and downstate alike — the migrant crisis in the state is considered a serious or very serious problem that needs to be addressed.
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"Seldom do we see an issue where at least 79% of Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, upstaters, downstaters, Blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics, Jews, and Protestants all agree – that the migrant influx is a serious problem," Greenberg said.
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The vast majority — a 35-point margin — of voters in the poll conducted Oct. 15-19 believed the state must do something to slow the flow of asylum seekers rather than simply take them all in, Siena found. While it has long been something many Republicans in the state have called for, the poll showed that more than two-thirds of independents and more than half of Democrats felt similarly.
When it comes to the handling of the crisis, voters polled did not have rave remarks for how NYC Mayor Eric Adams, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, or President Joe Biden have done so far. Of them all, Adams fared the best, with 46% disapproving of what he has done, as opposed to just 30% who approve.
Hochul fared slightly worse, with more than half disapproving, compared to the 37% who approve. Biden did not get good reviews, with nearly two-thirds of New York voters not approving of how he's handled the issue.
“While a plurality of New Yorkers do not approve of the job Adams is doing to address the influx of migrants, a 58-32% majority of New Yorkers – including a narrow plurality of Democrats – agree with Adams’ statement that ‘this issue will destroy New York City,'" said Greenberg.
A majority of responders (59%) said crime in the state has gotten worse over the last year, while just 9% believed it had gotten better.
The study had an overall margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points, the college said.
