Poll: NYC voters oppose 9/11 trials in Manhattan

A Quinnipiac University poll says 68 percent of New York City voters want the 9/11 terror trials moved out of lower Manhattan.

There is less consensus about where the suspects should eventually face charges. About 42 percent want trials held somewhere in the state, while 44 percent want them out of New York entirely.

About 56 percent favor trying 9/11 suspects in military courts, while 36 percent seek a civilian criminal trial, according to the poll released yesterday. The findings paralleled a Feb. 10 Quinnipiac national survey in which American voters favored military prosecution, 59 percent to 35 percent.

The poll of 1,195 registered city voters was held from Feb. 11 to 15.

It was conducted as the Obama administration rethinks its original plan to try professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in federal court in Manhattan - the Pearl Street courthouse near the World Trade Center.

It would cost more than $200 million a year to provide security for trials of the five Guantánamo Bay detainees, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Jan. 6.

The poll also revealed public support, 76 percent to 22 percent, for a tax on sugared soft drinks to help balance the budget. A Feb. 12 report by the Independent Budget Office, a publicly funded fiscal monitor, estimated New York City would raise $222 million with a half-cent per ounce levy.

Gov. David A. Paterson proposed a 1-cent-per-ounce tax in his Jan. 19 state budget message, projecting it would raise $465 million statewide. He abandoned a similar proposal last year after beverage industry lobbying.

- Combined news services