Fed up with liberal policies and high taxes, nearly 4 in 10 New Yorkers said they are leaving the state or making plans to leave.
A new Zogby Strategies poll shows that New York voters are increasingly looking to get out from under the thumb of Albany's tax collectors.
John Zogby Strategies analyst Jeremy Zogby told the Washington Examiner that "New Yorkers [are looking] elsewhere as the 'Empire State' is increasingly viewed as 'the Imperial State,' or even the 'vampire state.' "
John Zogby said that New York's high taxes have always been one of the reasons people leave the state, but 40-year-high inflation is exacerbating the situation.
"Folks are saying that if the cost of living is high, at least there is one thing they can do about it," John told the Examiner. "Prices of gasoline, groceries, and everything else are at a runaway stage, so there are places that cost less."
In his survey analysis about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's current lead in the November election, Jeremy said that "she needs to worry about the 39% of New York voters who told the Unite NY/John Zogby Strategies pollsters that they are considering — or have made plans — to leave New York."
The number of fleeing New Yorkers is up five points, from 34% in January, the poll notes.
Among those who are staying, 47% said the state is headed in the wrong direction, according to the data.
"It is fascinating that whether it is NYC, NYC suburbs, or upstate, New Yorkers' sentiment is to head for the hills," Jeremy told the Examiner. "Just not New York hills."
"Essentially, bold and swift government action has taken its toll as the philosophy is pending bankruptcy — financially and morally," he added.
John also told the Examiner that partisanship factors into New Yorkers' perceptions of high taxes and social programs.
"The political culture of New York is such that voters only want to cut the high cost of government when it means cutting the other guy's programs, never their own," he said.
The poll of 1,003 likely New York voters was commissioned by Unite NY, a statewide electoral reforms advocacy group and conducted by John Zogby Strategies on March 3.
No margin of error was given.
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