Majority of NY voters says migrant influx ‘will destroy’ New York City: survey

A majority of New York state voters in a new poll said they agree with Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) statement that the influx of migrants “will destroy” the city. 

In a Sienna College poll published Tuesday, 58 percent of respondents said they agree with their Democratic mayor’s earlier statement, while 32 percent said they disagree, three percent were in the middle and eight percent said they didn’t know or refused to say.

The question included a quote from Adams — a former Brooklyn Borough president, who spent decades in the NYPD — recalling his life experience while stressing the gravity of the migrant situation, before asking respondents if they agreed with his statement.

The question read: “Recently, Mayor Adams said this in relation to the recent influx of migrants: ‘Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to – I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City.’ Do you agree or disagree with Mayor Adams that the influx of migrants will destroy New York City?”

Adams’s remarks came during a town hall in early September, as the mayor pleaded for more federal and state assistance to deal with the large numbers of asylum seekers at the border. 

New York City has a “right-to-shelter” law that requires the city to provide housing for those who seek it, but as more migrants have been arriving at the border, the city government has struggled to find enough housing to keep up with demand.

“This issue will destroy New York City, destroy New York City. We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month. Now again, people from all over the globe have made their minds up that they’re going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City,” Adams said at the September town hall.

In the Sienna College poll, the vast majority of respondents said they saw the recent influx of migrants as a serious problem for the state — a sentiment that extends across demographics. A total of 84 percent of respondents called it a serious problem, compared to 12 percent who said it was not a serious problem.

Eighty-one percent of Democrats called it a serious problem, compared to 16 percent who said it was not serious. Ninety-four percent of Republicans said the recent influx of migrants was a serious problem for the state, compared to four percent who said it was not. Eighty-two percent of Independents/Others said it was serious, compared to 14 percent who said it was not. 

The breakdown was somewhat starker by ideology, with 68 percent of liberals calling it serious, compared to 28 percent who called it not. Eighty-seven percent of moderates said it was serious, compared to 11 percent who said it was not. Ninety-seven percent of conservatives said it was serious, compared to just two percent said it was not. 

The survey was conducted Oct. 15-19 and surveyed 1,225 New York State voters with a margin of error of +/-3.4 percentage points.