Long Island voters in both parties are consumed by economic dread — but they can’t agree on which financial issues mean the most to them or who is to blame, a new Post poll shows.
While both sides agreed that the economy is far from thriving, 47% of Democrats named “affordability” as their top concern, while a majority of Republicans, 36%, deemed “taxes” as the main culprit squeezing their pockets, according to the survey conducted June 22 by Flashpoint Strategies and Convos.
“The cost of living is the single biggest concern in both parties — but Democrats and Republicans describe the same economic pressure in opposite words,” said the poll by the AI-powered texting platform, which polled 1,115 of Nassau and Suffolk counties’ likely voters.
“Democrats overwhelmingly call it ‘affordability’ and ‘cost of living.’ Republicans blame ‘taxes’ for the squeeze,” the poll’s authors wrote.
On the flip side, only 5% of Democrats blamed taxes, whereas 21% of registered Republicans agreed that “affordability” is their top concern, according to the poll.
Still, when pushed to get specific, voters in both parties named the same villains as main drivers of their economic stress — groceries, gas, housing, healthcare, wages, and inflation.
Gov. Kathy Hochul meanwhile led gubernatorial foe and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman by 15 points, 53% to 38%, in the poll.
Her supporters generally cited President Trump, democracy, healthcare, housing and affordability as their vote-deciding concerns.
Blakeman led with voters who name taxes, immigration and crime as their main concerns, the poll read.
