Amid coronavirus lockdowns, protests, and an increase in homicides and shootings, New Yorkers are nearly split evenly on whether the city is on the right track.
Forty-six percent of respondents to a Manhattan Institute survey said that the city is on the right track, while 42% believe the city is heading in the wrong direction.
Of the respondents, 39% said they would move outside of New York City if they could, with residents of the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island more likely to desire a change of scenery. Additionally, 47% of Hispanic respondents said they would leave the city, the highest of any ethnic group.
Younger, highly educated, and more affluent residents of New York were more optimistic about the city’s future. Respondents with a graduate degree or earning more than $125,000 per year were more likely to say they would stay in New York City.
While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a 73% approval rate, Mayor Bill de Blasio is far less popular.
Only 45% of New Yorkers approve of his job performance, while 46% disapprove. De Blasio has come under fire for his handling of the coronavirus, with businesses and churches in the city shuttered for months while he attended mass protests during the lockdown.
Residents of New York City are also unhappy with the way their tax dollars have been spent, with 51% saying city services were not worth the money paid in taxes.
A majority of residents favor lowering taxes, with 75% support, while a tax hike was supported by only 11%. De Blasio has signaled his support for a tax hike, saying the city shouldn’t cater to the wealthy and that he’s open to it if the federal government declines to bail out states.
“Wealthy New Yorkers can afford to pay a little bit more so that everyone else can make it through this crisis, ” he said in August.
The survey comes after President Trump said his campaign is “putting New York in play” ahead of the election, adding he would bring taxes down.
“Over the last six months, what’s happened is insane. It’s insane. So we’re going to try very hard to win New York, and that will be the first time — is that since Ronald Reagan, I guess? Since Ronald Reagan,” Trump said last month, referring to President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 win. “I will bring down taxes, and I’ll make sure that New York City is a safe place. I mean, this is one of our cherished — this is a cherished diamond of this country. And we can’t let this happen to New York.”
Trump continued, “We’re going to invest in there. We’ll visit. I’m going to put it down as, you know, on the list. For instance, we think we’re going to win New Mexico. We think we’re going to win Minnesota. We think … we have a shot perhaps at Virginia because they have a very, very strange governor.”
