More than two-thirds of voters support Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to expand a woman’s right to an abortion – even allowing late-term abortions when the woman’s health is at risk, according to a new poll out today.
A Quinnipiac University poll out this morning also shows there is almost no gender gap in the support, with 67 of women and 66 of men polled supporting it.
Cuomo has put forward an abortion bill he says would bring state law more in line with federal law to protect existing abortion rights should Roe v. Wade be overturned. But the bill appears to be going nowhere since the GOP co-leader of the Senate, Dean Skelos, has said he will block a floor vote.
“On abortion overall, the numbers don’t change much: a small right-to-life minority, a larger abortion-on-demand minority, a majority in the middle saying it depends on the case,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
On Cuomo’s proposal to bring casino-style gambling upstate, overall 51 percent support it. There is more opposition to casinos, however, when voters think there could be one very close to them. And New York City voters are divided on the idea.
Asked about whether they would support a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling, 46 percent of New York City voters say it’s a good idea but 47 percent say it’s bad idea.
“New York City voters are not enthusiastic about changing the Constitution and lots of them will be voting in November because there are races for mayor, City Council and city-wide offices. Even upstate voters, presumably with the most to gain from casinos, are lukewarm.”
The poll also found that a whopping 70 percent of voters favor medical marijuana – including 58 percent of Republicans.
A smaller amount of support was also found for legalizing mixed martial arts. Thirty-four percent support doing so but 42 percent said they didn’t know enough to form an opinion either way.
The poll of 1,075 New York voters was conducted from May 29 to June 3. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.