TPM's Eric Kleefeld notes a new Siena poll of New York state showing that while state residents personally oppose construction of the Park51 (formerly Cordoba House) Islamic community center, they also support the right to build it by a whopping 64-percent to 28-percent margin.
A new Siena poll of New York state finds that registered voters here continue to oppose the construction of the Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City -- but at the same time, they overwhelmingly say that the Muslim group involved has the constitutional right to build it.
The poll asked: "Do you support or oppose the proposal to build the Cordoba House, a 15 story Muslim Cultural Center in lower Manhattan 2 blocks from the site of the World Trade Center?" Here the top-line answer is 27% support to 63% opposed. As we've seen before, opposition is lower in New York City itself, where 36% support it and 56% are opposed.
A follow-up question asked: "Regardless of whether you personally support or oppose the proposal to build the Cordoba House, do you believe the developers of the Cordoba House have a Constitutional right to proceed with the construction of the mosque and Muslim cultural center or not?" Here the answer is 64% yes, to only 28% no.
This is an important finding because it shows that there is overwhelming opposition to using government power to block development of the project, suggesting that Republicans may be overplaying their hand by turning this into a partisan political issue. Many Republicans say that they too support the right to develop the project, but that position is inconsistent with using their status as government officials to try to block it.
If they don't believe that government should enact policies to block the project, then why are they trying to make it a campaign issue? That position is the equivalent of a candidate appearing at an Operation Rescue rally against abortion while simultaneously proclaiming support for Roe v. Wade -- it doesn't make any sense. Then again, these days, trying to make sense of Republicans is probably a mistake in itself.