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New York City voters want more police on the street as firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., throws her hat behind a candidate that wants to slash police funding.
According to a new poll by Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos, the vast majority of New York City voters want to see more officers on the streets protecting their communities.
AOC ENDORSES PROGRESSIVE MAYA WILEY IN NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CONTEST
The poll found that 72% of likely voters in the Big Apple said they supported more policing in the city while only 20% of likely voters did not think there should be more NYPD officers walking the beat.
However, in contrast to the majority of people in her city saying they want more policing, Ocasio-Cortez — a member of the progressive "Squad" — endorsed fellow progressive Democrat Maya Wiley for mayor on Sunday.
Wiley, an attorney and activist, has called for "alternatives to policing" and supports slashing the NYPD budget — or, as she puts it on her campaign website, bringing the budget "in line with our values and priorities."
Wiley also said on her campaign site, if elected, her administration would rewrite the "rules of policing and reimagine the job so police officers focus on problems they can help solve" and renegotiate "the contract between the City and Police Benevolent Association (PBA) to end the union’s oversized influence and the Department’s evasion of accountability."
Wiley also wants to put a "freeze" on the incoming cadet classes of the NYPD and New York Department of Corrections and "[p]ermanently remove NYPD from mental health crisis management, traffic enforcement, and school safety."
"We cannot afford a future where New York becomes a playground for the wealthy," Ocasio-Cortez said during her endorsement spree of 60 progressive candidates this weekend. "That’s why I think it’s so important that we as a movement come together to make sure we send a progressive candidate to Gracie Mansion this month.
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"I'm putting Maya no. 1," Ocasio-Cortez added. "Maya Wiley is the one. She will be a progressive in Gracie Mansion."
Wiley is in the running against a handful of Democrats for the party's nomination for the Big Apple's mayor, going up against former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang.
Her campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene
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