ALBANY, N.Y.—With the recent indictment of New York politicians like Senator Malcolm Smith and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, many wonder, can they trust state lawmakers?
"We do a random sample of more than 800 registered voters and our sample looks like the New York electorate both in terms of geography, bipartisan break up, gender, age, income etc. so we do it very carefully to ensure we get a representative sample," said Greenberg. "Voters don't feel really strongly about that legislature and don't have great confidence in them right now."
As for how to combat the problem, voters were split between law enforcement reforms or the electoral process. There was support for term limits, limiting candidates to one party line, and making these legislators full time -- meaning no outside jobs.
Others like Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill argue public financing of campaigns is the answer. On Monday she came to the Capitol to share her thoughts on the matter.
"If you look at the Connecticut experience, it was exactly the same situation as you have right here in New York right now," said Merrill.
