AOC TAKES A HIT
She’s top ‘villain’ in failed Amazon deal: poll
New Yorkers see Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the biggest “villain” in the debacle that led Amazon to abandon the Big Apple, according to a poll released Monday.
The Siena College poll asking voters to assess the heroes and villains in the political battle over the online retailer’s scuttled plans to build a tech campus in Queens overwhelmingly found Ocasio-Cortez as the biggest bogeyman.
Roughly 38% of voters identified the freshman congresswoman as the biggest villain, while only 12% thought her a hero.
“Who do New Yorkers blame? Well, there’s certainly blame enough to go around,” pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement. “However, voters say the biggest villain was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez.”
The lawmaker was one of the most vocal critics of the $3 billion in state and city incentives offered in the deal struck by Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio to bring the online retail behemoth to Long Island City.
Overall, Democrats saw Amazon as the bad guy after the company canceled its plans amid pushback from Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens, Bronx) and other progressive lawmakers and community advocates.
The company, which blamed opposition for its Feb. 14 decision to back out of the proposal, didn’t escape blame either.
“Amazon itself was seen as the biggest villain among Democrats, but Republicans and independents had Ocasio-Cortez as far and away the largest villain, followed by the local Queens activists,” Greenberg said.
Good guys or bad guys aside, the majority of New Yorkers said Amazon pulling out was “bad” for the Empire State.
Sixty-seven percent said the withdrawal was “bad” for the state, while only 21% said it was “good,” the poll found.
p g voters agreed that the current politics in Albany is making it harder for businesses to be successful in New York.
Cuomo has furiously lashed out at elected officials, including state Senate Democrats, over the Amazon breakdown. He said this month that he has had “many conversations” with company executives and hopes Amazon will reconsider its withdrawal, but “up until now, we haven’t seen any
g p . Ocasio-Cortez, who celebrated the scuttled deal last month, skirted the issue when asked if she still opposes Amazon — or any other company getting tax breaks to set up shop in New York. “It’s not a personal animus necessarily towards Amazon,” she said this month. “For me, it’s more about the principle of listening to the community and really taking into account the people who are going to be impacted most, first.”