Forty Percent of New Yorkers Want to Leave ‘Vampire State’

New Yorkers are done with high taxes and Democratic leadership, and around 4 in 10 are looking for a way out of the state.

QUICK FACTS:

• Newly released polling data indicates that around 40% of New Yorkers no longer want to be part of the state and are making a plan to leave, The Washington Examiner reported.
• According to a new poll, voters are seeing the “Empire State” as the “Vampire State” or the “Imperial State” due to the crushing taxes, according to Jeremy Zogby of John Zogby Strategies.
• A second survey about the upcoming state gubernatorial race in New York showed that New Yorkers are particularly frustrated with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
• The poll indicated that while Hochul is leading against her Republican contender, the sharply increasing number of New Yorkers that want to leave the state could reflect badly on her.

POLLSTER’S COMMENTS:

• Pollster John Zogby said that “While taxes have always been cited as a major reason for leaving the state, they are particularly acute these days with the high rate of inflation. Folks are saying that if the cost of living is high, at least there is one thing they can do about it. Prices of gasoline, groceries, and everything else are at a runaway stage, so there are places that cost less.”
• Jeremy Zogby told Secrets, “It is fascinating that whether it is NYC, NYC suburbs, or upstate (essentially big city, suburban, small city, and rural) New Yorkers’ sentiment is to head for the hills. Just not New York hills.” He added, “Essentially, bold and swift government action has taken its toll as the philosophy is pending bankruptcy — financially and morally.”

BACKGROUND:

• Despite frustration with the state’s policies, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for New Yorkers.
• Just a year ago the Yonkers Council Democrats supported the largest tax hike in New York history, according to the Yonkers Tribune.  
• That came just a month before the New York State Senate and Assembly passed a $212 billion budget proposal that raises taxes to the point of generating more than $4 billion in revenue.