Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s signature campaign pledge on raising taxes for education got a boost from a poll Wednesday showing a majority of state voters back the proposal.
A Quinnipiac University poll showed 63% of voters in New York State back De Blasio’s plan to hike taxes on wealthier New York City residents making $500,000 a year or more.
The plan needs approval from Albany in an election year—a politically heavy lift as Republicans control the state Senate and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has been cool to the idea of raising taxes.
Democrats overwhelmingly back the plan, while independents support the proposal at 61%. Republicans opposition to the plan is 58%.
Regionally, voters in the New York City suburbs support de Blasio’s plan 55% to 42% and upstate voters back it 64% to 29%.
Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said the proposal "wins solid approval in every corner of the state, except among Republicans. And Republican state senators still have a lot to say about what happens in Albany.”
