Queens voters at a recent campaign rally in Woodside. (Photo: Queens Post)
May 19, 2021 By Ryan Songalia
Queens voters aged 50+ view crime as their number one concern, a recent poll found.
An AARP-Siena College poll published Monday found that 67 percent of Queens respondents 50+ named crime as their biggest concern, followed by the availability of affordable housing at 59 percent.
The concern relating to public safety comes at a time when violent crime has jumped significantly across the city, although overall crime has dipped.
The number of murders across the 5 boroughs for the year through May 9 is up 27 percent compared to the same time frame in 2020, from 115 to 146. There has also been an 86 percent increase in shooting incidents and a 69 percent increase in hate crimes compared to the same period last year.
An AARP-Siena poll of active NYC voters 50+ found that respondents from Queens viewed crime as their biggest concern
Overall crime, however, is down 6 percent compared to the same period last year, primarily due to a reduction in non violent crimes.
Poll respondents were asked what they deemed to be “very serious” concerns. While 67 percent of Queens respondents said crime and 59 percent affordability, other serious concerns came to the fore.
Queens respondents 50+ viewed the following as very serious concerns: affordability of living (56 percent); discrimination (53 percent); pedestrian safety (39 percent), ageism (31 percent), safety net social issues (30 percent), suitable transportation (23 percent) and high-speed internet (22 percent) rounding out the poll.
The results tracked with the responses given by voters of the same age group across the city. Across the five boroughs the “serious concerns” were crime (63 percent) coming in first, followed by affordable housing (61 percent), affordability (59 percent) and racial discrimination (53 percent).
In terms of the upcoming mayoral election, poll respondents were asked to weigh in on who they would vote for.
Among Queens voters, Andrew Yang was their first choice at 25 percent. Meanwhile, 15 percent of respondents said that Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was their first choice and 11 percent said City Comptroller Scott Stringer was their top pick. The biggest block of voters were undecided at 27 percent.
An AARP-Siena poll of active NYC voters 50+ found that respondents from across NYC viewed crime as their biggest concern
Older voters are expected to play a pivotal role in the primary elections.
“New Yorkers 50+ are the city’s most reliable voters, accounting for three out of four ballots cast in the last open mayoral primary when only 20 percent of registered voters turned out,” said Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP New York.
The poll surveyed 811 active voters in New York, including 208 Queens voters, between March 29 and April 8.
Among those polled, 531 were Democrats and 129 were Republicans, with the rest being independents or other party affiliation. The margin of error was +/- 3.8 percent.
An AARP-Siena poll of active NYC voters 50+ found that respondents from across NYC viewed crime as their biggest concern
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20 Comments
@Peace…People over 50 are typically not the ones using citizens app. They get their news through word of mouth just by walking and talking to friends and neighbors. I see so much citizen app footage on tv being used by local media. Also there are social media platforms which consist typically of the younger generation with posts discussing and informing users of every single criminal act they experienced or witnessed locally. They write about car break ins harassment burglaries homeless encounters discrimination etc. daily. A lot of their experiences are personal and many times do not make the news. They complain and vent just as much as older folks about crime but do it on line.
Good! That ensures that we get a strong centrist to bring NY back to its former glory. I would even go for Curtis. We need a tough on crime mayor again. It’s so bad out there.
No, it’s not that bad. The data is pretty clear that crime is not out of control and remains very much an issue not really worthy of such intense concern. A bigger problem is the fear-mongers who keep misstating the facts and want folks to be scared.
Some advice: delete the Citizen app from your phone and stop watching local TV news (except NY1). The world is not such a scary place.
My uncle is obsessed with it and the site keeps on giving confusing information.
Crime like it’s 1921? The Prohibition on alcahol was a failed experiment because people drank anyway thus it created a black market and the Italian/Irish/etc… mob we romanticize today via movies (Godfather, Road to Perdition etc…)
How is anyone surprised that illegal drugs have created black market mobs/dealers in public housing complexes and with no policing are gaining more territory through gang wars. Blacks killing black far outweigh police killing blacks.
Like it or not, the solution is to legalize all drugs and handle it like a pharmacy. Enough of this “I need a law to prevent me from doing opioids” nonsense. Who here would do cocaine tomorrow if it was legalized overnight? Exactly my point; you still wouldn’t do it.
Isn’t Giuliani Story Hour their number one concern?
Where are the white people on the last graph denoting issues by race? I’m interested in seeing that.
Makes sense. Many younger New Yorkers can just move once they had enough and are more concerned with legalizing weed, finding luxury housing for cheaper and bike lanes. The over 50 crowd are typically people who have lived here many years and can not afford to move elsewhere.
Maybe they can send social workers to talk to people over 50 about living in fear.
Hashtagger Aka Ann – Maybe you could change up the content of your post instead of just changing your posting name.
I remember the 70’s here in NYC very well, and it is starting to look like that here again, except with a weird undertone, making it potentially WORSE than before, thanks to Blasio. 🙁
I no longer feel comfortable, grocery shopping, walking outside, taking the subway or even walking my cat.
Well, crime is one issue wishy-washy, bleeding heart liberals (democrats) are utterly and ideologically incapable of dealing with. So as long as democrats are voted in, don’t expect things to improve.
Crime is higher in red states than blue ones. Fact!!!
Queens is super dangerous right now. I was at the Park the other day and had my peanuts stolen by a squirrel.
I rent an apartment on the first floor. My landlord tells me it is good idea to close all the windows when i go to sleep and when i ;eave home for safety. There have been break ins in the neighborhood both during the day and night. Now neighbors are telling me i should only open the windows in the room i am using and close them when i enter another room. I wish i had window guards. Its too hot to keep windows closed.
Insist on bars on your windows.
In all buildings with three or more apartments, New York City (NYC) law requires that building owners install window guards if a child age 10 years or younger lives there, or if the tenant or occupant requests window guards for any reason.
1) what are these 50+ year olds still doing in Queens? this is a millennial town now, and we’re voting socialist! catch up to times folks.
2) how dare they distort the truth by saying that white privilege and racism isn’t a number one concern?! this survey must’ve been prepared by Trump sympathizers and should be banned in all newspapers within NYC limits!