Survey finds Long Islanders deeply divided, dissatisfied with government

Harrison Kraft of West Islip says he’s dissatisfied with the direction Long Island is going.
Inflation. Taxes. The food supply. “Inability to educate the children,” said Kraft, who retired as owner of a commercial door business.

“I’m 76 years old,” Kraft said in a phone interview Wednesday. “As my mother said to me when she was in her 70s, I’m too old to fix this now. What can I do?”

On the other hand, Maureen McClure, 72, of West Babylon says she's pretty satisfied with how things are going on the Island, where she's lived almost her whole life.

“In general, it’s a great place to live, and I hope it continues to stay that way. I have grandchildren here, and my son has businesses here. I hope it stays the way it is. I hope the schools don’t get all messed up,” she said.

Kraft and McClure were two participants in a nextLI/Newsday Hofstra survey of 2,910 Long Islanders — roughly as many residents of Nassau County participating as Suffolk.

More Long Islanders are in Kraft’s camp than McClure’s, according to the findings of the survey, conducted by the company Productions Plus of Michigan.

“To put it bluntly, Long Islanders are in a lousy mood. Like many voters across the country, they’re deeply divided over almost everything political and ideological, from which party and candidates they support to what positions they take on particular issues,” according to a summary of the findings the company provided.

The findings come as Long Islanders go to the polls in less than a week for local races, governor, the midterms, and a presidential election two years away, and voters’ “overall sense of dissatisfaction looms as a potentially powerful force in determining the outcome.”

For example, in the governor’s race, incumbent Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is in an unexpectedly tight match with East End Congressman Lee Zeldin, her Republican challenger.

"Regardless of whether they’re ‘red’ or ‘blue’ or moderately ‘purple,’ however, Nassau-Suffolk residents are overwhelmingly united on two points: their unhappiness about the way things are going on Long Island and the U.S. and their lack of confidence in state and federal governments,” the summary said.

Among the findings:
Long Islanders are more dissatisfied with the direction of their country than the Island: 84% are dissatisfied with the direction of the country and 16% are satisfied, compared to 67% dissatisfied with the Island’s direction and 33% satisfied.

For both measures, self-identified Democrats are less dissatisfied (74% over the county, and 57% for the Island) than Republicans (91% and 74%, respectively) and independents (87% and 71%, respectively).

Overall, women are more dissatisfied over the way things are going nationwide (87% vs. 80%) and on the Island (71% vs. 63%) than men.

Another finding from the survey: “Confidence in the federal and state governments is low, but Long Islanders have more confidence in their county and local governments.”

For example, although 27% of Long Islanders report no confidence in the federal government and 60% report little to no confidence — a similar finding to what Long Islanders think of the state government — 58% reported some to a lot of confidence in their county government, and 63% reported having much confidence in the local government.

Local police got the highest level of confidence — 35% of respondents saying they have a lot of confidence and 40% saying some confidence. About 16% said not too much confidence and 9% said none.

The poll also found that although two-thirds of Long Islanders are at least somewhat willing to spend time speaking with someone with very different religious, political or social values, a third of the respondents aren’t. Democrats are more willing (72% being at least somewhat willing) compared with 66% of Republicans and 65% of independents.

Respondents to the survey, conducted between Aug. 3 and Sept. 1, were sourced from an online panel, face-to-face interviews, and QR codes made publicly available. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2%. The data was weighted to represent the adult population of the counties.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.