By Mark Scott
Troy, NY – President Barack Obama appeared Monday at the Hudson Valley Community College in Troy to talk about innovation and once again make the case for healthcare reform.
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The President toured a classroom lab at Hudson Valley, chatting with students working with transformers and studying power distribution. Mr. Obama then addressed the years of economic hardship upstate New York has faced. He went on to say the region is primed for growth in the global economy. He also found a way to tie in the health care issue to his overall message of innovation.
The President's visit to Troy came on the very day the Siena Research Institute released an in-depth poll of how New Yorkers view the healthcare issue. Siena Director Don Levy says a clear majority believe health care needs to be fixed. But he says New Yorkers are evenly split on whether the country can afford the President's plan. More than half of those polled described the plan as risky.
According to the Siena poll, President Obama's favorability rating in New York has dropped to 65 percent. That's down from the 81 percent he enjoyed shortly after his inauguration last January.