NEW YORK (PIX11) – Immigration is the most important issue for voters in New York's 3rd Congressional District ahead of the Feb. 13 special election to fill George Santos’ seat, according to a new PIX11/Emerson College Polling survey released Thursday.
According to the poll, 45% of voters think the federal government should be funding housing for migrants who were bused from Texas to New York City. City spending on the migrant crisis initially caused Mayor Eric Adams to announce budget cuts to essential agencies and programs, but he has since rolled back more than $200 million of those cuts.
New Yorkers have also shared their concerns about shelters and the mass evacuation of migrants during weather emergencies.
The next two issues that voters in District 3, which covers a sliver of eastern Queens and portions of Nassau County, are most concerned about are the economy (22%) and crime (15%), according to the poll. Meanwhile, 26% of voters said immigration was their top issue.
Housing affordability (12%), “threats to democracy” (9%), education (5%), health care (4%), and abortion access (4%) rounded out the survey.
Voters were closely split between Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip. The poll found Suozzi received 45% of voter support, while Pilip got 42%.
“There is a significant difference between voters who say they are ‘very likely’ to vote on Feb. 13, and those who are ‘somewhat likely’ or ‘not too likely’ to vote,” said Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling. “Suozzi leads 51% to 37% among ‘very likely’ voters, whereas Pilip leads among these ‘somewhat likely’ or ‘not too likely’ voters 66% to 22%. Notably, the ‘very likely’ voter makes up 84% of the electorate.”
Suozzi was the previous representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District until he gave up his seat to run for governor in 2022. He lost to Gov. Kathy Hochul in the primary.
Suozzi held his seat for six years and also served as the mayor of Glen Cove from 1994 to 2001. He was also Nassau County executive from 2002-2009.
Pilip is a Nassau County legislator who represents Great Neck, Manhasset and Herricks. She was born in Ethiopia, lived in Israel, and served in the Israel Defense Forces.
She was elected to her seat in 2021.
PIX11 News will host a special one-hour forum featuring NY-3 candidates Suozzi and Pilip on Tuesday, Jan. 30, from 7 to 8 p.m. You can tune in to PIX11 News or stream the forum on PIX11.com and PIX11+, which is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Samsung.
The Emerson College Polling/PIX11 New York Third District poll was conducted January 13-15, 2024. The sample consisted of 975 registered voters, with a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error, of +/- 3.1 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, party, race, and education based on US Census parameters, and New York voter registration and voter turnout data by regions (NY SOS). Data was collected by contacting a list of cellphones via MMS-to-web, landlines via Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and emails provided by Aristotle, along with an online panel of voters provided by Alchemer.
Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.