After a pair of New York State legislators were charged in unrelated corruption scandals this month, more than 80 percent of voters say they believe that additional lawmakers are likely to be arrested for ethical malfeasance in the near future, according to a poll released Monday.
The poll, by Siena College, found that voters had a high level of suspicion about their state government. Roughly one in three said they believed it was likely that their own state senator could be arrested for corruption, and about the same number of voters believed it was likely that their Assembly member could be arrested. More than half of voters described themselves as distrustful of and cynical about politics in New York, and nearly that number said they had concluded that most state legislators “cannot be trusted.â€
“Clearly, the recent arrests have eroded confidence in the Legislature,†said Steven A. Greenberg, a Siena pollster.
The poll was conducted from April 14 to 18, after the arrests of Senator Malcolm A. Smith, a Queens Democrat, and Assemblyman Eric A. Stevenson, a Bronx Democrat, on federal corruption charges in separate cases. Since then, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers have vowed to press for new anti-corruption laws before the end of this year’s legislative session.
The poll found that voters were supportive, and even eager, for reform proposals that went beyond what Mr. Cuomo and lawmakers are currently discussing.
A large majority, 82 percent, supported imposing term limits on state legislators so they could not serve more than five two-year terms. And 54 percent supported making the Legislature work on a full-time basis - under such a system, legislators would be forbidden to have second jobs, but would receive a higher salary. Neither of those changes is under serious consideration at the Capitol.
Fifty-five percent of voters said they also supported barring candidates from running for office on multiple party lines. Senator Smith was charged in a scheme to bribe his way onto the ballot for mayor of New York City as a Republican. Mr. Cuomo has proposed ending the requirement that candidates wishing to run on the ballot line of parties in which they are not registered members receive the authorization of party leaders; his proposal would change, but not eliminate, New York’s unusual fusion voting system, under which candidates may run for office with the support of multiple parties.
Voters seemed to disagree with Mr. Cuomo about which law enforcement officials are best suited to ramp up ethics enforcement. The governor has suggested giving more power to district attorneys to prosecute public corruption. But a plurality of voters, 29 percent, said they believed federal prosecutors should take the lead in cleaning up corruption in the Legislature.
Mr. Cuomo has also proposed creating a new office within the State Board of Elections to police violations of state election law. Although he suggested during his campaign for governor giving more authority to the attorney general for ethics enforcement, he no longer supports that idea. In the poll, 27 percent of voters said the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, should take primary responsibility for battling corruption in the Legislature.
Despite low confidence in the integrity of lawmakers, voters said they were somewhat optimistic that the corruption scandals would prompt action in Albany. About 6 in 10 voters said they were confident that Mr. Cuomo would succeed in winning approval of reform measures aimed at reducing corruption in the state’s political system.
The poll, conducted by telephone of 811 registered voters, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
