New York state voters are overwhelmingly against a pay raise for state lawmakers in Albany ”“ despite the fact that legislators haven”™t received a raise in more than 13 years.
Eighty percent of voters queried by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute from July 17-23 said state senators and assembly members don”™t deserve a pay raise, with just 16 percent of respondents saying they should receive a raise. State lawmakers currently earn a base salary of $79,500.
“The talk in Albany says there”™ll be a legislative pay raise voted in a special session after the election, but it doesn”™t look like a popular idea,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the institute, in a July 26 statement.
Of those polled, 31 percent approved of the state legislature”™s performance, while 51 percent disapproved. The 31 percent approval rate represents the highest score since a 32 percent approval rating in a February 2009 Quinnipiac University poll.
In the same survey, voters were asked whether they would support an increase in the federal income tax rate for high earners.
Given the options of raising taxes on people with a household income of more than $250,000, raising taxes on people with a household income of more than $1 million, and not raising federal income taxes, 29 percent of respondents chose the first option, 40 percent opted for the second and 28 percent said taxes should not be raised.
Respondents were also asked whether they would repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was largely upheld by the Supreme Court in a June decision. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they would let the law stand, while 36 percent said they would repeal it.
