Poll: 71% Say Mosque Organizers Should Volunteer to Move Site

By Karen DeWitt

Albany, New York –
A new poll finds New Yorkers split about whether a proposed mosque and community center should be constructed near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, but nearly three quarters think the organizers should voluntarily build somewhere else.

A Quinnipiac university poll finds that slightly over half, 54%, of those surveyed think the mosque organizers have the constitutional right to construct the center two blocks away from Ground Zero. Pollster Mickey Carroll says nearly the same number, 53%, say they should not be permitted to build at all.

"There's almost a tug of war, " said Carroll.

But Carroll says there does seem to be a consensus about how to quell the controversy over the mosque. 71% think the mosque organizers should voluntarily move the site to somewhere else.

Governor David Paterson, speaking at an event in New York City, echoed the sentiments expressed in the poll, when he said that even though he strongly believes in the right to build under the constitutional right to freedom of religion, he appeals to the mosque organizers to "perhaps think about another area that might be suitable, just to diminish the tensions".

Paterson, who has tried to be a mediator, compared the heated political rhetoric to Tom Wolfe's novel "Bonfire of the Vanities", and said earlier this week that he thinks some of the mosque opponents are simply prejudiced.

"Some are absolutely bigoted, there's just no doubt about it," said Paterson.

But Paterson says some opponents do have legitimate worries, and he says people who live and work in that neighborhood have already been subjected to a lot of stress.

The poll also asked whether Attorney General Andrew Cuomo should investigate the finances of the mosque, and 71% said yes, he should. Organizers have not yet begun raising money for the project.