When it comes to the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” more New Yorkers are lining up behind Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin than New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
A new Marist Poll finds that a majority of New York City residents object to the construction of the Cordoba Center, an Islamic community center planned to be built two blocks from the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The poll, released today, reports that 53% of those in New York City oppose building the center, while 34% of New York City residents side with Mayor Bloomberg in approving of the plans.
The poll’s results might help explain why New York Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Anthony Weiner have remained relatively mum on the question of the center’s construction. Exactly half of all Democratic New Yorkers (as well as 38% of self-identified “liberals”) disapprove of the proposed Islamic center, and 47% say that it “offends the memory of the 9/11 victims and their families.” By comparison, 74% of Republican New Yorkers (and 64% of “conservatives”) oppose the center.
The poll also reveals a geographic divide. While opposition to the Cordoba Center is high in the Bronx (53%), Brooklyn (61%), and Queens and Staten Island (60% — the poll lumps the two boroughs together), it’s lowest in Manhattan, where only 31% of voters disapprove of the planned center. Fifty-three percent of Manhattanites side with their mayor in favoring the Cordoba Center’s construction.
Republicans — including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Lazio, Tim Pawlenty, and John McCain — have rushed to refudiate the Islamic center. Joe Lieberman has also come out against the center.
The Marist Poll, which surveyed 696 registered voters, has a margin of error of ±4.0 percentage points.
