A poll released on Monday revealed that a majority of New Yorkers oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $15 driver congestion toll for Manhattan. A majority of Democratic voters also oppose the measure, which might be implemented as early as June.
The first nationwide congestion toll will be an added burden for every driver who wants to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street (at the southern end of Central Park) and will be needed every day from early morning until 9 p.m.
Ms. Hochul supported the measure and said that proceeds would go to improving mass transit.
A Sienna College poll among 806 registered New York State voters found that only 25 percent support the measure, and 63 percent oppose it.
Among Democratic voters, 54 percent oppose it, while this number rises to 75 percent for Republican voters.
When broken down by area, 33 percent of people living in New York City support it, while 64 percent oppose it.
Residents of the suburbs, who may travel by car to Manhattan, oppose it at 72 percent, with only 22 percent supporting it.
People living in upstate New York oppose it the least, at 33 percent, and support it the least, at 18 percent, given that people living far away from the Big Apple may rarely visit Manhattan.
Respondents also said that they would find another way of traveling to Manhattan at 17 percent, and 14 percent said they would travel to Manhattan less frequently.
Only 14 percent said the measure would have no effect on their frequency of traveling to Manhattan.
In a question on Ms. Hochul, 49 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of her, with only 40 percent having a favorable view. Among the people voting Democrat, 57 percent had a favorable view.
In other questions, 82 percent of respondents said the recent influx of illegal aliens in New York is serious or somewhat serious, and only 15 percent said it was not something serious.
This was an issue on which both Democratic and Republican voters strongly agreed, with 78 percent of Democrats and 92 percent of Republicans categorizing it as serious.
A big majority of respondents, this time divided among party lines, disapproved of Ms. Hochul’s handling of the illegal immigrant influx. Specifically, 58 percent disapproved of her handling, with only 33 percent approving.
Similar numbers were given for the same question regarding New York mayor Eric Adams’s handling of the issue.
Another interesting point was the strong disapproval of the Biden administration’s handling of the illegal immigrant influx in New York, with almost half of the Democrats disapproving of President Joe Biden. In total, 62 percent of New Yorkers disapproved of President Biden’s handling, and only 34 percent approved.
The survey was conducted between April 15 and 17, 2024, and has a four percentage-point error margin.
