NEW YORK – Nearly 40 percent of New Yorkers believe Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the villain rather than the hero in Amazon’s recent decision to pull out of the state, according to a poll published Monday.
Only 12 percent of state citizens consider the New York Democrat a savior for leading the charge against a deal that would have brought the online company to the Empire State, the Siena College poll found. Pollsters asked citizens who was the hero, villain or role player in the matter.
“Who do New Yorkers blame? Well, there’s certainly blame enough to go around. … However, voters say the biggest villain was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez,” pollster Steven Greenberg told The New York Post. Citizens spread their animus far and wide, with 34 percent also calling local activists the chief villain. Another 29 percent of people say Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio is to blame.
“Amazon itself was seen as the biggest villain among Democrats, but Republicans and independents had Ocasio-Cortez as far and away the largest villain, followed by the local Queens activists,” Greenberg added. An overwhelming number of people believe Amazon’s decision in February deals a blow to the state, according to the poll, which surveyed 700 registered voters and has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.
Sixty-seven percent of those polled said the withdrawal was bad for New York, while 21 percent said it was a good thing. The project in New York was expected to create 25,000 jobs. A smaller project in Nashville, Tennessee, is expected to create 5,000 new jobs.
Much of the opposition to the deal stems from New York’s willingness to provide Amazon more than $3 billion in government incentives to set up shop in the state.
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