Economic development (39%) trumps environmental concerns (20%) among Upstate voters but just over one in three people (35%) equally support both economic development and protection of the environment.  

The findings are from a Zogby Interactive survey of 697 Upstate New York likely voters conducted on May 1-2, 2009. The margin of error was +/-3.8%. The geographic definition of Upstate New York included Delaware, Greene and Colombia counties and all counties to their north and west.

The question regarding job creation and the environment read as follows: Environmentalists believe that protecting the environment should be the primary consideration when considering economic development projects. Economic development people say that creating jobs should be the primary consideration when considering economic development projects. Whose side are you more likely to support, environmentalists or economic development people?

Here are the results for the entire sample and by political party affiliation, where there were sharp differences:

Other notable sub-group differences included:

• Gender, where women were 19 points more likely than men to choose "both" (45%-26%);
• Suburbanites, who were half as likely to choose "environmentalists"(11%) as the entire sample;
• Religious service attendance, where only 6% of weekly worshipers chose "environmentalists" compared to 35% of those who never attend services;
• Those earning $100,000 or more annually, where 11% chose "environmentalists" and 51% chose "economic development people."

On the question about Upstate issues of importance, there were significant political party differences. Republicans were far more likely to name "taxes" (84%) and Democrats were more inclined to select "Upstate economy" (71%). Concern about the "state budget and spending" was more uniform, ranging from 29% of independents to 25% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats.

For a methodology statement on this poll, please visit:

http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.cfm?ID=1397