-On our New York poll we found pretty much the same stuff on public opinion about the mosque that everyone else has- only 32% of voters support building it to 55% opposed. But at the same time 59% of voters think the developer has the right to build it to only 30% who disagree on that front.
We took it a step further though and that's where the numbers get interesting. We asked, using the exact same verbiage as the mosque question, whether voters would support building a strip club two blocks from Ground Zero. The overall numbers came out roughly the same as for the mosque- 28% in support and 54% opposed. But a look inside the crosstabs finds a shocking disparity when it comes to who supports the mosque and who supports the strip club.
Just 4% of Republican voters support building the Ground Zero mosque. But 21% say they would support a Ground Zero strip club! Now everything that's happened at the RNC this year makes sense...just supporting the values of the base.
Democrats narrowly support the mosque but oppose the strip club, independents oppose both the mosque and the strip club.
-As David Paterson prepares to leave office we find that he and predecessor Eliot Spitzer are equally unpopular. Paterson's approval is 30/55 and Spitzer's favorability is an identical 30/55. The most interesting thing about Paterson's approval numbers is that he meets with roughly the same amount of favor from Democrats (30%), Republicans (27%), and independents (33%) alike. Paterson has to be the only Governor we've polled on this year who was more popular with independents than voters within his own party.
Spitzer's numbers break down in more predictable partisan fashion- 40% of Democrats like him but only 18% of Republicans do with independents in between at 24%.
Paterson and Spitzer may have equal numbers on a personal level but when it comes to who New Yorkers think the state would have been better served by over the last couple years it's no contest- voters say by a 45/28 margin that they wish Spitzer had been Governor since 2008. There's a bipartisan consensus on that- Democrats by a 31 point margin, independents by a 5 point margin, and Republicans by a 3 point margin think things would have been better if Spitzer had just stayed in office.
Full results here
Stripper question is pretty off the mark... opposition to the mosque isn't grounded in only wanting to have morally acceptable establishments on sacred ground, it's about having a monument to the religion in whose name the attacks were launched. Is it supposed to be surprising that the conservative response is a little bit more emotional around the Islamic structure than it is around something like a strip club with zero connection to anything relevant?
ReplyDeletestrip clubs aren't typically built or operated by radical terrorists who seek to kill or enslave non-muslims under sharia law. The fact that leftists would even make such a comparison shows how naive they are about the threat we face and the evil of our enemies.
ReplyDeleteIf 21% of Republicans support the strip club, then at least 70% don't support the strip club. How significant is 21%???? The majority don't support EITHER.
ReplyDeletePark 51 isn't being "built or operated by radical terrorists who seek to kill or enslave non-muslims [sic] under sharia law," either, so I don't quite see your point.
ReplyDeleteAy, I almost forgot that bigotry is by definition irrational. Sorry about that!
Christian Liberty (oxymoron?) says: "strip clubs aren't typically built or operated by radical terrorists who seek to kill or enslave non-muslims under sharia law." That characterization of those who seek to build Park51 (which is not a mosque, btw,) would be like saying "strip clubs are typically built by pimps and mobsters operating under no law at all." Neither is fair or accurate.
ReplyDeleteRich Bradley says 9/11 attacks were done in the name of Islam. And the Oklahoma City bombing was done in the name of Christianity. So, no more churches?
The Park51 project has no connection to al Qaeda or any terrorists. We are not at war with Islam--we are at war with al Qaeda. Besides, plenty of American Muslims were killed in the World Trade Center along with the thousands of Christians, Jews, atheists, etc., and even people from other countries. The First Amendment guarantees that we are a nation of no official religion, and that we are all free to worship as we choose. Opposition to Park51 is nothing but irrational, xenophobic hatred for political purposes. It's a wedge issue meant to divid people and distract people from what's really at stake.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between a Ground Zero Mosque and a Ground Zero Strip Club is that the Ground Zero Mosque is perceived as Islamist triumphalism while a Ground Zero Strip Club would just be perceived as bad taste.
ReplyDelete@Rich Bradley and Christian "Liberty" (the scare quotes are to denote that there's no such thing - Christianity is slavery):
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, it puts the lie to the whole "OMG IT'S SACRED GROUND" argument that the neo-brownshirts fall back on when reminded that no amount of wiggling will make the (teabagger-revered) Founding Fathers opposed to religious freedom.
This article is crap. The author make such crap statements like "Just 4% of Republican voters support building the Ground Zero mosque. But 21% say they would support a Ground Zero strip club! Now everything that's happened at the RNC this year makes sense...just supporting the values of the base." and "Democrats narrowly support the mosque but oppose the strip club, independents oppose both the mosque and the strip club." so lets look at the numbers.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats more than "narrowly support the mosque" it's actually 49 to 37 in favor. A 12% spread!!
Democrats do oppose the strip club, but not as much as republicans. 33% of democrats approve but only 21% of republicans approve. More independents approve of the strip club (28%) than do republicans, but the author tries to imply that republicans want the strip club more than dems or independents.
I guess Democrats are just supporting the values of their base: Muslim Strippers.
"More independents approve of the strip club (28%) than do republicans, but the author tries to imply that republicans want the strip club more than dems or independents."
ReplyDeleteNo, the point is that Republican support a strip club more than an Islamic community center (it's not a mosque). Republicans do oppose the strip club more than Democrats do, true, but not nearly as much as they do the community center. They oppose the latter, 86-4, but the former, only 64-21.
@christian liberty - most mosques aren't run by 'radical terrorists who seek to kill or enslave non-muslims under sharia law'. sharia muslims actually make up a fairly small percentage of muslims - even in the middle east. i'm not particularly for or against the mosque near ground zero, but i don't think there's any disrespect behind it. shouldn't everyone be allowed to worship the god of their choice in peace?
ReplyDelete