Poll: Majority of Voters Oppose Taxpayer-Funded Campaigns, Say Corruption is a Major Problem in the State

A Quinnipiac University poll released today found that 53% of registered voters oppose public financing of campaigns for governor, other statewide offices and the Legislature, while 37% support the idea. It also found that 55% of voters do not agree that public financing of political campaigns would reduce corruption, while 35% of voters do believe it would reduce corruption.

The poll also addressed a number of other government corruption-related issues:

• 45% of voters believe that government corruption is a “very serious” problem in the state, while 39% see it as a “somewhat serious” problem;
• 47% of voters feel that the Governor, not legislative leaders, should have primary responsibility for cleaning up legislative corruption; and
• voters overwhelmingly (84%-11%) feel that elected officials convicted of a felony should lose their government pensions.

These poll numbers – the first on the issue since the indictments announced in the first week of April — come out as issues relating to public corruption and campaign finance reform heat up in Albany.