“Open or close? NYers take stance on Indian Point: poll” by Joseph Spector
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Jan 30, 2017 •
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“ALBANY — A majority of New Yorkers support a state agreement to close Indian Point by 2021, a poll Monday found.
By a margin of 54 percent to 30 percent, voters across the state backed a Jan. 9 deal among the nuclear power plant’s owner, environmental groups and the state to shutter the controversial Buchanan facility within the next four years, a Siena College poll said.
Support of the decision was similar across the state: It was 56 percent to 32 percent in the New York City suburbs and 50 percent to 34 percent upstate.
Among different groups, only people who identified themselves as conservatives opposed the closure.
Entergy said ongoing legal battles over operating the plant and declining energy prices led it to agree to shutter the plan by 2021.
The question was among 14 asked of New York voters on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2017 agenda, and voters were widely supportive of his initiatives.
“Cuomo’s agenda for 2017 is chock full of proposals – some new, some old – and many of them enjoy strong bipartisan support,” Siena College poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said in a statement.
While Cuomo’s proposals were largely backed, voters gave a declining opinion of its home-state president, Donald Trump.
Trump had a negative 37 percent to 55 percent favorability rating, down from negative 41-53 percent last month, the Siena poll said.
New York voters said they expected the Republican president would improve the country’s infrastructure and relationship with Russia, but predicted he would make the country worse on seven other issues — including the environment and race relations.
As for Cuomo, voters were most supportive of the Democratic governor’s proposal for a $2 billion clean water infrastructure fund, giving preference in state contracts to U.S.-made goods and allowing for ride-hailing services to operate across the state.
Also, 74 percent of voters backed keeping higher income taxes on the wealthy –a divisive issue at the Capitol.
Cuomo had a 56 percent to 37 percent favorability rating, unchanged from last month.
His job-performance rating was 45 percent to 53 percent, also little changed since December, the poll said
Also, 47 percent of voters were prepared to re-elect Cuomo next year compared to 44 percent would prefer someone else.
But upstate, 34 percent of voters picked Cuomo, compared to 58 who wanted someone else.
“While voters like his proposals and he traveled the state promoting them, it did not help boost Cuomo’s ratings, which continue a two-year trend of little fluctuation,” Greenberg said.
Cuomo’s proposals would need approval from the state Legislature, which enjoyed its highest favorability since Siena started polling nearly a decade ago.
The Senate had a 49 percent to 36 percent favorability rating, while the Assembly had 45 percent to 35 percent favorability rating.
The poll from the Albany-area college was conducted Jan. 22-26 to 812 New York registered voters. It had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.”
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