Last week, a Townhall reported how a new poll found that the majority of Americans believe that there should be an age cap as an eligibility requirement for presidential candidates. In the poll, the majority of respondents indicated that they believe that President Joe Biden is too old to effectively serve another term.
A new Siena College poll released Tuesday found that 62 percent of voters believe that Biden is unfit for another four-year term as president. Sixty percent said the same of former President Donald Trump.
“While 74% of Republicans say Trump is fit for a four-year term as President, and 56% of Democrats say Biden is fit, a plurality of independents, 45%, says both are unfit,” Siena College Pollster Steven Greenberg said in the write-up. “Biden is seen as fit by 20% of independents and only 6% of Republicans, while 32% of independents and 23% of Democrats say Trump is fit.
“Among voters 55 and older, only 26% say neither is fit for a four-year term, while 45% of voters under 35 say that both are unfit,” Greenberg said. “Neither Biden nor Trump is fit to serve a four-year term, according to 30% of white voters, 37% of Black voters, and nearly half, 47%, of Latino voters.”
When asked about New York, specifically, the survey found that 57 percent of registered voters believe that the quality of life in New York is getting worse, compared to 14 percent who said it was getting better.
“A huge majority of Republicans, a large majority of independents and a plurality of Democrats all say the quality of life in New York is getting worse. In fact, a majority of virtually every demographic group – pluralities of Democrats, liberals and New York City voters – say things are getting worse,” Greenberg said. “Only 4% of independents, 5% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats say things in New York are getting better.
“Similarly, by a 52-35% margin, voters say the state is headed in the wrong direction, not on the right track, including 81% of Republicans and 55% of independents,” Greenberg continued. “On the other hand, 49% of Democrats say the state is on the right track. Last month, voters said the state was headed in the wrong direction 48-39%.”
In the results, at least 80 percent of each partisan group of Democrats, Republicans and Independents said that the cost of living in the state is a “major problem.” At least 71 percent of each group say that affordable housing is a “major problem,” as do at least 64 percent of each category about crime and 51 percent of each about the ongoing illegal immigration crisis.
“With many voters seeing multiple major problems facing the state, Siena asked voters to pick the single most important issue they want Hochul and legislators to address. With 27% – including more than one-third of independents – the cost of living in the state rose to the top, but not far behind were crime, 19%, the migrant influx, 18%, and affordable housing, 17%,” Greenberg explained. “Those top four issues were also the top four for Republicans, Democrats and independents, though in different orders.”
“For Republicans, addressing the migrant issue is the most important issue – even bigger than cost of living. For Democrats, availability of affordable housing is virtually tied with cost of living as the top issue,” Greenberg added.
The poll was conducted Sept. 10 through 13 among 804 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
