Two-thirds of New York residents think Ground Zero mosque should be moved
By TOM TOPOUSIS
Posted: 7:25 AM, September 24, 2010
While a vast majority of New Yorkers believe the group planning a mosque near Ground Zero has a legal right to do so, two-thirds of state residents believe it should be built somewhere else, a new Quinnipiac University poll found.
And 57 percent of the likely voters polled said building a mosque so close to Ground Zero is "wrong."
"Most voters think it isn’t ‘appropriate’ to put a mosque close to Ground Zero. There’s a party split: Republicans overwhelmingly say no; Democrats say yes," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"But almost all New Yorkers agree that America’s belief in freedom of religion gives Muslims the right to build the mosque," Carroll said.
The poll found that 80 percent of New Yorkers believe the mosque’s backers have a legal right to build on the site they own near Ground Zero, while a scant 15 percent said they don’t.
But by a margin of 67 to 21 percent, those surveyed said the mosque should be moved voluntarily.
Republicans overwhelmingly rejected the idea that a mosque near Ground Zero is appropriate by a margin of 90 to 8 percent. But 50 percent of Democrats said a mosque at the location is ok, compared with 34 percent who said it isn’t appropriate.
Independent voters say 63 to 30 percent that it’s wrong.
The survey of 751 likely voters from around New York State was conducted from Sept. 16th to 20th. The margin of errror is +/- 3.6 pecentage points.
