Poll: New Yorkers Want to Cut Spending, Somehow

New Yorkers want state lawmakers to close the budget gap by reducing state spending instead of raising taxes, according to results from a Siena poll released today.

“When given a choice of five areas for the state to cut, 23 percent chose aid to local government, 18 percent transportation/infrastructure, seven percent education, six percent health care and the winner was 44 percent for ‘something else’ ” according to the poll.

Things to note about those top-two vote-getters for spending cuts: they run counter to the governor and mayor’s priorities.

Michael Bloomberg has pushed to increase funding for transportation and infrastructure, forming a national organization to make it a priority. And reducing aid to local municipalities is what helped create the unfunded mandates from Albany that drove up property taxes, which David Paterson has tried to fight.

Also according to the poll, 77 percent of New Yorkers believe that Paterson will wind up supporting a tax increase.