Poll Claims Majority Of New Yorkers Support Amazon Deal

NEW YORK – The $3 billion deal to bring Amazon to Long Island City is backed by the majority of New Yorkers who responded to a new poll released Tuesday. The Siena College survey found 56 percent of respondents support it, while 36 percent disapprove.

But the poll surveyed only 778 registered voters in the state and it was conducted only in English.

The state and city offered $3 billion in public subsidies for Amazon to open corporate offices in the neighborhood.

In New York City, 56 percent of those questioned approved of the Amazon deal, compared to 66 percent of suburban voters. Black and Latino voters were likelier to support the deal than white voters — 70 percent of black voters and 81 percent of Latino voters approved of the deal, the poll found. Across demographics, none had a majority that disapproved of the deal.

“Even as Amazon is said to be reexamining the deal with New York to locate in Queens, by twenty points New York voters approve of the deal,” Siena College Research Institute director Don Levy said in a statement. “Upstate voters are evenly divided but suburban voters strongly approve and in New York City, where some local activists have voiced opposition, voters approve of the deal by 23 points.

The poll's Amazon question reads: "Do you approve or disapprove of the recently announced deal between Amazon and New York, which grants up to 3 billion dollars in state and city incentives to Amazon in return for Amazon locating its corporate offices in Queens, where it is projected to generate 25 thousand jobs?"

View the full poll results here.

(Lead image by Leon Neal/Getty Images)