Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A new Siena poll this week shows a significant contrast to an August poll on how New Yorkers feel about migrants, and political analysts tell WBEN it's almost impossible to politically navigate the issue.
Last month's poll found voters say 82-16% that the recent influx of migrants to the state is a serious problem, with 54% saying very serious. Tuesday's poll found 84% of all New Yorkers agree that most of the current migrants want only to build a better life for themselves and their family.
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Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates interprets the results as showing many are cognizant of what America means, and many of us are immigrants here as well.
"Our community had been built by immigrants and and they continue to have a big role," says O'Donnell. "That said, there are big groups here who have legitimate concerns. We see 30% concerned about the migrants bringing in drugs and adding to crime, we see other significant minorities concerned about cost and the cost to them of these new arrivals."
"Obviously one of the big questions is how it's going to be paid for and who's paying for it. I think it gets even more complicated when you see that we have Democratic elected statewide officials where a lot of the answers here are national," says O'Donnell. He says we need Congress and the president to act. "But some of those folks, starting with Governor Hochul have been a little reluctant to pin all of this on President Biden. Mayor Adams of New York City, has been a little more clear in calling out the President, calling out the federal government. And as a result, he was kicked off the President's surrogate team across the country," notes O'Donnell.
Republican strategist Carl Calabrese says the polls are striking in contrast. He says part of it is how liberal New York is, including among Republicans. But he thinks there's another factor. "I just thought that the way the questions were framed, and the way they were asked, kind of got the result that came with this poll," says Calabrese. "Should we live by the words that are on the Statue of Liberty? Has immigration and assimilation made America great? People who come here only want to build a better life ...and so there are a lot of questions like that, that I could just see people saying, Okay, I'm just going to answer the way I think the pollster wants me to answer because I don't want to run afoul of political correctness," says Calabrese.
Calabrese believes politically navigating the issue is impossible because of how polarized the nation has become. "Democrats have their base that they are very attuned to, and Republicans have their base that they're equally attuned to. And we live in a time when both bases voters consider any attempt by their elected official of their respective party to reach across the aisle and try to come up with a compromise solution that's seen as being a traitor," says Calabrese. He adds that makes it very difficult now for elected officials of both parties to sit down and try to get do some give and take to come up with a solution because they're afraid of their own bases.