NEW YORK CITY -- A new poll finds 71 percent of New Yorkers want the developers of an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero to voluntarily move the project.
The Quinnipiac University poll finds the same amount of New Yorkers want Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate its sources of funding for the project in lower Manhattan.
Cuomo, a Democrat running for governor, has said little about the issue. He said it's protected by the Constitution, although he will investigate if concerns are found. He didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Sixty-three percent of New York City voters polled think the builders should voluntarily find another spot, compared to 28 percent who don't and 9 percent who don't have an opinion. In upstate and suburban counties, 76 percent of voters favor a move, compared to 17 percent who don't and 7 percent who don't have an opinion.
The poll finds 53 percent of registered voters feel the Muslim developers shouldn't be allowed to build a couple blocks from ground zero. About the same percentage says they have a right to.
Quinnipiac questioned 1,497 registered voters Aug. 23-29 and has a margin of error or plus or minutes 2.5 percentage points.
This poll comes on the heels of a report that the mosque debate has become a major issue in the race for governor of New York, and a new website has been launched by American Muslims who hope to diffuse any hostility over the ground zero controversy.
The poll mirrors the findings of other polls, which show New Yorkers agree the Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque anywhere they want. But a majority of New York voters polled so far say ground zero, the site of nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001, is different.
"The heated, sometimes angry debate over the proposal to build a mosque two blocks from ground zero has New York state voters twisted in knots," said Quinnipiac poll Director Maurice "Mickey" Carroll.
The poll finds 54 percent of New Yorkers agree the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion allows the mosque to be built near ground zero. Forty percent disagree.
But 53 percent feel that because of the "sensitivities of Sept. 11 relatives," Muslims shouldn't be about allowed to build a mosque near ground zero. Thirty-nine percent disagree.
Carroll said the poll shows New Yorkers want a potential compromise, a voluntary change of location for the project that would likely result in a feeling of goodwill. But the developers so far haven't chosen to consider a new site, despite offers by Gov. David Paterson to use state resources to look at sites farther from ground zero.
So we would like to know what you think. Should the developers of the proposed Islamic center voluntarily move the project? Vote in our poll below, then leave a comment and tell us what you think.
