A majority of New Yorkers want embattled Republican Representative George Santos to resign amid a flurry of reports that he fabricated large parts of his life story, according to a new Siena College poll.
A total of 59 per cent of registered voters said Mr Santos should resign from Congress, with 64 per cent of Democrats saying he should. A plurality of Republicans – 49 per cent – want Mr Santos to resign as well. That comes despite the fact that Mr Santos flipped a district on Long Island that had voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden.
Since his election in November, Mr Santos has faced numerous headlines that revealed that he fabricated major parts of his life story. Mr Santos reportedly lied about being Jewish, though he later said that he was “Jew-ish.”
In addition, he reportedly lied about the fact that he worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, The New York Times reported. The Times also reported that the IRS had no record of his charity Friends of Pets United.
Mr Santos also said he graduated from Baruch College in 2010 but the college had no evidence he attended.
Furthermore, Mr Santos previously said that his mother died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, even though his mother died in 2016 and The Washington Post and The Jewish Daily Forward reported that his mother was not even in New York on the day of the terrorist attacks.
Mr Santos also faced accusations in Patch.com that he reportedly took money meant to pay for the surgery for a service dog of a disabled veteran, which his vehemently denied.
Despite this, Mr Santos has shown little sign of resigning.
“Looking forward to be back on Capitol Hill this week to serve #NY03,” he tweeted. “I also have a surprise for the “journalists” assigned to stake out side of my office… can’t wait to see you guys!”
Siena College surveyed 821 registered voters in New York from 15 January to 19 January with a margin of error of 4.3 per cent.
