Skidmore Poll: Divisions Hurt Democrats

Posted on Fri, Dec 7, 2007
Skidmore Poll: Divisions Hurt Democrats
By PAUL POST, The Saratogian
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Democrats comprise a growing share of the city’s electorate, but Republicans won this fall’s elections because of divisions within the Democratic Party, a Skidmore College poll shows.

A freshmen government class surveyed more than 200 people following the Nov. 6 elections that saw GOP challenger Scott Johnson defeat Mayor Valerie Keehn and Skip Scirocco oust longtime Public Works Commissioner Thomas McTygue.

Keehn and McTygue are both Democrats, but people who voted for them also voted for their respective opponents, the survey says.

“Both Johnson and Scirocco were elected by capturing different wings of the Democratic Party,” said Robert Turner, a Skidmore government professor, whose class conducted the poll.

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Each person surveyed was asked a series of 32 questions in a telephone survey.

“It’s an extremely astute analysis,” said Gordon Boyd, a third-party candidate for mayor.

Keehn’s stated priorities were controlling the pace of development and finding a permanent, reliable source of drinking water, the same issues that struck a chord with voters in 2005.

This time, however, voters said they were more concerned about civility in government and taxes, the poll said.

Verbal battles between Keehn and McTygue dominated City Council meetings for much of the past two years, and the 2008 budget has an 8.6 percent tax hike.

While Keehn and McTygue were battling, they apparently missed what people really cared about, poll results show.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters turned out for the election with no state or national races at stake.

“That’s very, very high for a local election,” Turner said.

Voter turnout has gone up dramatically since the 1999 mayoral race when Democrat Ken Klotz defeated incumbent Republican J. Michael O’Connell. Previously, about 7,500 people took part in local elections. Turnout peaked in 2003 when more than 9,500 turned out and has declined only slightly in the two elections since then.

“People in Saratoga Springs know what they want from government and expect a lot from their leaders,” student Ben Vail said.

Some of the poll’s most significant findings had more to do with the electorate than elections themselves. Among people that have moved to Saratoga Springs during the past decade, 78 percent have at least a college education and the majority are enrolled Democrats.

Among people who responded, 45 percent described themselves as political moderates.

“In order to win elections in Saratoga, politicians must appeal to the middle,” Vail said.

The poll also showed a distinct delineation in the places where Republicans and Democrats live. The outside district around Saratoga Lake and Geyser Crest, to the west, are dominated by Republicans, while Democrats control the city’s inner core.

View the Skidmore poll results here.