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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we'll do a combination New York City polling quiz and an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific calling poll about what issue matters most to you in New York City right now. This bounces off a Quinnipiac poll that came out the other day and made some news and had some interesting findings about attitudes in New York City.

Let me keep this as simple as possible to get the call going and then we'll play a little guess what the public said to the posters on this, as you call in. The very simple question is, well, I'll give you two both simple. What do you think is the most important issue in New York right now if you live in New York City? This is New York City one. About Mayor Adams first few weeks do you generally approve or disapprove of the way he starting out?

Here are the some of the choices that Quinnipiac gave their poll respondents on which item to put at the top of their list. Inflation, unemployment, homelessness, climate change, health care, racial inequality, schools, affordable housing, or crime. 212-433 WNYC 212-433-9692. Oh, I left out COVID-19. How would you rank any of these? Top one, top two, top three of concern to you in New York City right now. Crime, COVID-19, inflation, unemployment, homelessness, climate change, health care, racial inequality, schools, or affordable housing?

Top one or two issues to you out of that list in New York City, and while you're at it, about Mayor Adams first few weeks, do you generally approve or disapprove of the way he's starting out? 212-433 WNYC 212-433-9692. I will ask each of you one of the poll questions that broke out as a news story and that is, do you think crime is a very serious problem in New York City right now or less, do you think it's something less than very serious.

212-433 WNYC, 212-433-9692. Rank the issues, approve or disapprove of Mayor Adams. Tell us if you see crime as a very serious issue, or not a very serious issue at this moment in New York City. 212-433-9692 and along the way, we'll see if you can guess how the public responded to a number of the questions that they asked. Stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we'll do that combination New York City polling quiz and our informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific Brian Lehrer Show call in poll about what issue matters most to you in New York City right now. To give credit where credit is due, this bounces off a Quinnipiac poll that came out last week, and made some news and I'll give you some of those results as we go. Linda in Ridgewood, Queens, you're on WNYC. Thank you so much for calling in.

Linda: Hi, good morning. I just feel that there are way too many guns in the hands of people in New York and that has to be reduced. Subway crime is a little scary but I believe that is also due to a lack of enough behavioral health treatment for a lot of people.

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Brian Lehrer: All right. Here's a quiz question, the Quinnipiac poll asked, do you think crime is a very serious problem in New York City right now or something less than very serious? I put the or something less than very serious tag on it just for clarity, for contrast, but Quinnipiac asked, do you think crime is a very serious problem in New York City right now? What would your own answer to that question be?

Linda: I would say I'm not super concerned with crime. I think more the underlying issue of people aren't getting help, and that is leading to a crime it's not just bad people out there, it's people who need help.

Brian Lehrer: Within five percentage points, do you think you can guess what percentage of the poll respondents said crime is a very serious problem in New York City right now?

Linda: I would say probably 90%.

Brian Lehrer: Well, it was 74% but even at that, that is a record since Quinnipiac started asking the question in 1999. The previous record was 50% saying crime is a very serious problem in 2016 and that's the headline that jumped out that 74% first time ever, that it was remotely that high in the 20 plus years they've been asking the question, 74% said crime is a very serious problem in New York. Linda, thank you very much for starting us off. Let's go to Jacob in Brooklyn. Hi, Jacob.

Jacob: Hi, Brian, how are you? Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to point out that for me personally, I think the previous caller, definitely crime. I'm sorry, the safety in New York City. Second issue would be the affordable housing. so for crying out, I'll be honest with you my wife recently came from overseas and I honestly forbid her from using the subway. I tell her, just go ahead, it's safer to use the buses. Then right now at the moment, I am driving for Uber and Lyft and when I have customers coming in, especially tourists, I don't want to scare them but I tell them honestly, the subway isn't safe.

I just want to see an improvement on that because honestly, I would love for my wife to use the subway independently but honestly it's really, really dangerous at this moment. Then I don't know, I just prefer affordable housing. I feel like if it doesn't get better, or it doesn't change, I'm probably going to have to move. I am thinking about either moving to the south so maybe somewhere in Michigan.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. That was another set of questions in the poll. Let's see if I have that at my fingertips. People were asked by Quinnipiac, would you rather remain in New York City or would you rather move out? Give me your best guess as to what percentage said they would rather remain in New York City?

Jacob: I'd say at least 60%.

Brian Lehrer: You're right. You just about nailed it, it was 59% said they would rather remain in New York City. 38% said they would rather move out. Now, if you had to guess breaking that down by race, white, Black and Hispanic, because those are the three categories they had. I guess they didn't measure Asian separately. How

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different do you think they would be on rather remain in New York City or rather move out?

Jacob: I'll be honest with you, in terms of Black and Hispanic, I'd say they are more likely to move out. Whites, I guess, depending on if you're Hispanic white, Arabic white or whatever white, I would generally say they would stay.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Jacob, thanks a lot. The answer to that last question according to Quinnipiac, 33% of whites said they would rather remain. 35% of Blacks, I'm sorry, this is rather move out. 33% would rather move out of whites, 35% of Blacks and 43% of Hispanics told Quinnipiac they would rather move out of New York City. Debbie in Jackson Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debbie.

Debbie: Hi. My thing is that the police have had the most money that they've ever had before and yet the crime is now high again and that's because this money should go into social services and not towards the police. I think defunding the police will bring the crime down.

Brian Lehrer: Now let me ask you this about Mayor Adams first few weeks, do you generally approve or disapprove of the way he's starting out?

Debbie: I generally disapprove.

Brian Lehrer: What would you guess the Quinnipiac finding was of people overall general approval versus disapproval.

Debbie: I think it's probably about even. He's done some things that satisfy a lot of people that I don't agree with but I'm sure there's people that are fine. There hasn't been any huge controversies yet.

Brian Lehrer: Turns out at least according to this poll, not every poll is accurate but there have been a few polls now that have found something similar. The Sienna poll number came out and it was similar. 61% approve of Mayor Adams job performance so far just 28% disapproved. He is got a two to one approval ratio there 61% to 28% better than 2:1. What do you think the racial breakdown is there? Black, white, Hispanic any guess?

Debbie: I don't know. I would say white people probably approve of him the most.

Brian Lehrer: You'll be surprised to learn that he had a 61% approval rating among Blacks, 45% approval rating among whites, 41% approval rating among Hispanics. Debbie, there you go. Thank you very much. Francesca in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi Francesca.

Francesca: Hi Brian. I am so thrilled to be talking to you. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm actually a native New Yorker and I love this town but I feel like we are uniquely vulnerable to climate change. I think all of our planning to that effect has been short term and top down and reactive and I think we need to counter it with some comprehensive planning.

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Brian Lehrer: I have this here? I'm going to look it up. What percent of the public in the Quinnipiac poll do you think listed climate change as their number one issue?

Francesca: Oh man. I guess I'm a cynic, I'm going to say maybe like 40%.

Brian Lehrer: As their number one issue. This is the question.

Francesca: Their number one probably less than that. Maybe like 25%.

Brian Lehrer: If I'm reading this chart right. It was like 1%.

Francesca: Oh no. Really.

Brian Lehrer: In terms of the number one issue it was 1% compared to crime way up there as number one, followed by affordable housing number two at just 14%. Crime was like in its own category. COVID-19 was fourth down at 8% listing it as the number one issue. Homelessness was third at 9%. Crime way up in its own category. Yes, climate change as far as number one issue in New York City right now. That doesn't mean people don't consider it an urgent issue but in terms of the ranking.

All right let me give you one. I gave you that quiz question so I'm going to move on to another caller. Francesca, thank you very much. We'll go to Glen in Park Slope. Hi Glen. You're on WNYC.

Glen: Hi Brian. I want to mention something I never hear mentioned, implementing quality of the public schools. De Blasio did a fantastic job that's constantly underrated of giving us universal pre K. The benefits of that are just incredible and yet we don't go the next step. We want to talk about one or two high schools, how they're not equal but what about talking about how to make all the schools high quality?

If you go to the private school model say from St. Ann's in Brooklyn or at Brooklyn Friends, they'll put two certified teachers in the classroom. 20 children to a class and they always tell us numbers don't matter. In the private schools it seems to matter. Scott Stringer who wasn't my favorite but he had a proposal to put two teachers in every classroom and no one else picked up on it and it died. As an educator I think it's a fantastic idea and pour some money into the schools that aren't performing. I think it's the number one issue.

Brian Lehrer: I think Stringer's proposal was two teachers into certain classrooms. It might have been up through third grade or something like that but there was a proposal to put two teachers in a lot of classrooms. You trigger a memory. I would have to look this up to confirm it but I seem to recall just after 9/11 there was a mayoral election that year. That's when Bloomberg got elected.

In a poll that fall after 9/11 but before election day, people were asked what their number one issue was. Probably a lot of people in the media expected it to be safety from terrorism and education came out as the number one issue and safety from terrorism was further down. Right now it didn't come out as the number one issue.

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Glen: It relates to crime too. It relates to crime directly.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely. Eric Adams would certainly say that. What's the line that he says all the time. If you don't educate you will incarcerate.

Glen: That's right. If I can sneak in one second one. When they talk about affordable housing I just want to say, they don't ever focus on how you're going to guarantee the policies the fine print of making it affordable that the right people get it and that it stays affordable. I just want to say to the developers, keep everyone happy 20%. I want to have a microscope put on that 20%. Who gets that housing and how do we make sure it stays affordable? Some places in Denmark and even across the country. There's some affordable housing programs that keep it affordable perpetually.

Brian Lehrer: Glen, here's a poll question for you since you brought up public schools as your number one. This is a polling quiz question to be clear in the actual Quinnipiac, what percent do you think approved and what percent do you think disapproved of Mayor Adams handling of the public school so far?

Glen: Wow, that's a hard one.

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Brian Lehrer: It's really early. This is keeping in mind it's really early in his administration for school policy.

Glen: I approved of it but I'd say it's probably 50/50.

Brian Lehrer: It's 44 for 31 with the rest undecided. 44% approval and 31% disapproval in the early days of Eric Adams for school policy. I'd say that's not the most meaningful poll number out of the group. A decent start for him and David Banks the school's chancellor so they will see what they build on over time. Thanks for your call.

Glen, this is WNYC FMHD and AM New York, WNJT FM 88.1Trenton, WNJP 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong, WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey public radio. Couple of more minutes on our combination New York city polling quiz and our own informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific, Brian Lehrer poll about what issue matters most to you in New York City right now. Elizabeth in Manhattan Beach, you're on WNYC. Hi, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Hi, thank you for taking my call. I really feel that unlike so many other New Yorkers that crime is not such a tremendous problem as-- I think it's been exaggerated especially in terms of the subways. My son travels on the subway every five days a week to and from Manhattan from Brooklyn, he's never had a problem. He's never seen a problem. I think the problem is that you have one horrendous incident like that woman being pushed onto the tracks a month ago and everybody's aware of it and it makes it seem as if the subways is a terribly dangerous place.

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Meanwhile there are 3 million people who are traveling on the subways every day. I still feel that crime even though it has increased somewhat off late, it is-- I'm not saying it's not a problem. Of course it is as always but I think the idea that people are all afraid of traveling on the subways is really not appropriate. I travel on the subways a couple of days a week and I'm not afraid.

Brian Lehrer: Certainly when you look at stats in terms of the curve of history, it's a little like how in November when it's 40 degrees for the first time since the previous winter, everybody's like, "Oh, it's so cold out." Then when you get to now February and oh it comes back up to 40 degrees and everybody says, "Oh, it's so mild out today."

10 years ago when the number of murders was about the same that it is now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was touting New York as the safest big city in America and look how safe it is and look how far crime has come down. People would've told these posters, "Oh, New York feels very safe now." I realize shootings are higher but same number of murders and people are saying New York is unsafe in record numbers as to when they were saying it was so safe a decade or so ago.

Elizabeth: I agree completely.

Brian Lehrer: It's going up rather than down.

Elizabeth: I have this running argument with one of my friends and she's always listening to local news and there's just so much emphasis on any time there is a shooting you hear about it on the TV news. I think that as I said, there's just too much emphasis, too much coverage on every crime that occurs in the city.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Here's a poll quiz question. What do you think the response was to this Quinnipiac question, do you approve of Mayor Adams handling of police community relations? What percent approved?

Elizabeth: Police community relations, to tell you the truth I have no idea. I guess I can take a guess like everybody else. It depends which group probably. I would say maybe 60% approve 30% disapprove.

Brian Lehrer: Yes and you got it about right. 57% approve of his handling of police community relations. I could look at the break down. I'll give you this one more, Elizabeth, since we've been doing our reading project on his blueprint to end gun violence. Do you think from what you know, that it strikes the right balance between law enforcement and crime prevention programs or is it too much law enforcement or too much crime prevention?

Elizabeth: I'm sorry, but I'm not really familiar with this outline.

Brian Lehrer: All right. I'm going to move on, that's fair. We always respect people who are honest enough to say, I don't know, instead of faking it. Carlos in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hey Carlos, thanks for calling in. What's your number one issue?

Carlos: Oh yes. Hi. I listen to your show a lot. I think it's crime and not just major

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crime. Even things like almost being run over by e-bikes on the sidewalk and stuff like this. Personally, I think as far as the crime we've been seeing, it's because of Rikers. They need to bring that population down, I know at one time it was 13,000 and they're letting out people that are mentally ill. There's no place to put them.

On Rikers there they can easily build a temporary hospital or whatever they need. They've already approved the trains to LaGuardia, so they could extend that if they ever built it. I don't know, that's my take.

Brian Lehrer: That's your take. Here's a quiz question for you. On the question of, do you approve or disapprove of the way Mayor Adams is handling crime? What do you think the racial breakdown was white, Black, Hispanic on, do you approve or disapprove of the way Mayor Adams is handling crime? On a racial breakdown, who do you think approve more or less, or take a guess at numbers if you want?

Carlos: I would say it's probably approved, it's fairly equal. I think that he's trying to find a balance. I think it's too soon to judge, but I think people voted for him because they are tired of the crime here.

Brian Lehrer: Carlos, thank you very much and yes, the answer is by race 49% of whites approve of the way Mayor Adams is handling crime so far, 62% of Blacks, according to Quinnipiac and 46% of Hispanics and that might be counterintuitive for some people if the crackdown is seen as more risky to Black New Yorkers because of excessive policing or the potential for excessive policing.

At the same time Black neighborhoods have a disproportionate amount of crime, according to the mayor's stats. Maybe it's surprising, maybe it's not, but there's that Quinnipiac finding, 49% of whites approve of the Mayor's handling of crime so far, 62% of Blacks approve so far, 46% of Hispanics, they call them Hispanics in Quinnipiac. Some people say Latinos, whatever. He's got the highest approval rating among Blacks if the Quinnipiac numbers are accurate on his handling of crime so far.

All right, that wraps up our combination call in informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific poll and our Quinnipiac poll quiz.

 

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