A solid majority, 62%, said it would
make “no difference” to them; 4% said it would make them “much more
likely” to vote for Monserrate and 3% “slightly more likely;” while 24%
said it would make them “much less likely” to vote for him with another
2% saying “slightly less likely.”


Another question posed,
“Reverend Ruben Diaz, another State Senator, is campaigning for Hiram
Monserrate and says that Monserrate should be returned to the State
Senate despite his assault conviction because he stood up to the gay
community and voted against gay marriage. Does this make you feel more
likely to vote for Monserrate, less likely to vote for Monserrate, or
would it make no difference to your vote?


The responses: 53% said
no difference; 5% much more likely; 3% slightly more likely; 31% much
less likely; 5% slightly less likely.


Berlin said they drew a
couple conclusions from the polling: whatever people may feel about gay
marriage, they don’t like politicians who try to use the issue as a way
to curry favor with voters; and that the antigay rhetoric of the
socially conservative state senator Rev. Ruben Diaz was going to
backfire.


“Diaz has said he is going to travel, carrying his
message from district to district helping to defeat people who voted for
marriage equality,” said Berlin. “What this showed is that Ruben Diaz
is borderline toxic.”


Although Berlin called Diaz’s message
harmful, from a political standpoint she joked, “He can travel to all
the districts he wants, we’ll pay his gas mileage.”


Berlin
acknowledged that future races may not provide the embarrassment of
riches in terms of material that Hiram Monserrate did, but she noted
that Fight Back New York does not intend to apply a “cookie cutter”
approach to upcoming campaigns.


“While the information against
other senators may not be as damaging, we’re going to find whatever it
is that is a vulnerability in their district,” she said. “It may be as
simple as them being on the wrong side of a popular issue.”