ONLY 33 PERCENT OF NEW YORKERS FAVOR BAIL REFORM AND LEGALIZATION OF WEED MAY BE JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Support for bail reform nosedives in New York, new poll shows

By Carl Campanile

New York Post
February 24, 2020

Support for New York’s controversial bail reform is collapsing amid media reports of defendants being released and committing more crimes, a survey said Monday.

A solid majority of state voters – 59 percent – now say that the elimination of cash bail for most misdemeanor and “non-violent” felony crimes is bad for New York, the Siena College poll found.

Only 33 percent of respondents said the law enacted Jan. 1 is good for New York.

The support nosedived further since a Siena survey last month – when 37 percent said bail reform is good and 49 percent said it was bad.

After the law was approved last April, 55 percent of New Yorkers said bail reform was good and 38 percent said it was bad.

Opposition to the law has increased across the board.

Democrats still favor the law by a narrow 49 percent to 44 percent. But the number of Democrats opposed jumped 10 points from January, when 34 percent said the law is bad.

The number of registered independents or unaffiliated voters who gave bail reform a thumbs down jumped from 56 percent in January to 66 percent in February.

Meanwhile, opposition from Republicans increased from 78 percent to 85 percent.

Resistance has grown among minorities, the strongest backers of bail reform.

Now 44 percent of Latino said bail reform is good and 48 percent said it’s bad. Last month, 49 percent said it’s good and only 30 percent said it’s bad – meaning opposition surged by 18 percentage points.

A majority of African American voters – 53 percent – support bail reform. But opposition increased from 27 percent in January to 40 percent in Monday’s survey.

“Support for the new bail law – which took effect in January after passage as part of the budget last year continues to plummet. In April, New Yorkers thought the new law would be good for the state by 17 points. Last month, voters said the new law is bad for the state by a margin of 12 points. Today, that margin for thinking the law is bad for New York has bulged to 26 points,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said.

Former Gov. David Paterson, one of New York’s most prominent black leaders, on Sunday said the bail law has to be tweaked.

“You don’t want people sitting in jail for 18 months because they can’t afford $200 bail, but at the same time, you don’t want anyone coming out on bail who’s a danger to society,” he said. “We want to make sure that if [someone] has a record of being violent, they can’t commit any further crimes before they are tried for the one before the court.”

He said the Democratic-controlled state Assembly needs to bend a little.

“You just need to Assembly members to understand, we’re not killing bail reform, we are taking the parts of it that are already demonstrating that we went too far out of the legislation,” he told host John Catsimatidis on AM 970’s The Cat’s Radio Roundtable on Sunday.

Voters are also evenly divided on the law allowing illegal immigrants to get a New York driver’s license – with 48 percent in support and 48 percent opposed. Democrats, black and Latino voters continue to strongly support it, as independents and white voters oppose it and Republicans strongly oppose the law.

A majority of New Yorkers favor legalizing the recreational use of marijuana with 55 percent in support and 40 percent opposed. Those numbers have been fairly constant over the past year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature again will consider legalizing weed after failing to do so last year.