Term Limits Gaining In Appeal Across NY

All the discussion, uproar and denigration of democracy here in the city has created quite the debate about term limits throughout the Empire State. Watching Bloomberg in all of his political arm-twisting glory, the public was generally aghast at what he and his minions in the Council did. Polls show the issue should have been addressed by another referenda but that wasn't good enough for the Mayor. So now pollsters are asking about term limits around New York and Paterson's popularity on top of that.

From PolitickerNY:

The new Siena poll seems to prove that voters statewide are, like city voters, able to be supportive of term limits without being unsupportive of the executive who happens to be in charge.

David Paterson’s approval rating is up (although he’d still lose in a hypothetical match-up to Michael Bloomberg, 43 to 47), even as a majority of voters said they support an eight-year term limit on state lawmakers, including the governor.

According to the data, voters support term limits for state lawmakers by a margin of 58 - 37 percent, with 5 percent undecided. And it's supported across party lines: Democrats support it 55 - 38, with Republicans even more in favor of it, 66 to 31; independent voters also support it 57 to 40.

Albany is just as messed up as City Hall so the numbers are't too surprising, showing how New Yorkers are generally displeased with how their representatives represent them. Even though Paterson (and by previous polling) and Bloomberg are popular, term limits are also favored by strong majorities. The more we hear about the shenanigans from our halls of government, the more people seem to want limits on the State Legislature's terms.