ALBANY – Equal pay for women should be at the top of Gov. Cuomo’s 2013 to-do list, more than half of New York voters say.
A Quinnipiac University poll out today found 53 percent of voters said the issue should be the highest priority for Cuomo and lawmakers this year, with another 36 percent urging that it be a high priority.
Following Quinnipiac’s release of poll results yesterday that showed a 30-point downward swing in Cuomo’s job approval rating after he signed a controversial gun control law, today’s numbers carried another warning for the popular first-term Democrat.
Voters were split on the direction of the state, with 50 percent saying they’re satisfied but 49 percent dissatisfied – down from 55-44 last month.
And 56 percent said they don’t think Cuomo will be able to keep his no-new-taxes pledge, while nearly as many (44 percent) think Cuomo’s agenda is aimed more at helping him become president rather than helping the state (47 percent).
Picking from a menu of left-leaning proposals in Cuomo’s State of the State speech earlier this month, voters said Cuomo and lawmakers should make campaign finance reform their second-highest priority, with 31 percent urging it to be tops on the list and 37 percent calling it a high priority.
That was followed by a bar exam-type test for teachers (28 percent highest, 43 percent high), merit pay for teachers (26, 45) and a longer school day or school year (17, 39).
The Jan.23-28 telephone survey of 1,127 state voters found raising the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour continues to enjoy strong across-the-board support (80-17), including 61-35 percent backing among Republicans.
State Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos this week said he’s open to a compromise over Cuomo’s proposal to raise the rate to $8.75, possibly including a phase-in.
Fracking upstate’s Marcellus shale for natural gas — which Cuomo did not address in his State of the State speech and has not decided whether to green-light — continued splitting the electorate, with city voters opposed and upstate and suburban New Yorkers supportive.
The State Health Department is still reviewing the potential impact on human health of the controversial practice of injecting a high-pressure mix of chemicals, sand and water into shale rock, which supporters say will boost the economy but opponents claim will harm health and the environment.
In an open-ended question, 32 percent of voters identified the economy as the most important problem facing the state, followed by taxes (17 percent), education (nine percent), the state budget (seven percent) and gun control (four percent).
On equal pay, 60 percent of women made it their highest priority with 33 percent calling it a high priority; the numbers for men were 46 and 38 percent, respectively.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.