Poll: New York lukewarm on Hochul
Voters say migrant influx, crime remain major issues in state
ALBANY — New York voters continue to hold middling views on Gov. Kathy Hochul and her ability to resolve the state’s migrant crisis, according to a poll by the Siena College Research Institute.
The governor’s “favorability” among registered voters improved from polling in November, but a majority of New Yorkers remain relatively unenthused.
About 45 percent said view Hochul, a moderate Democrat, as favorable, while 42 percent view her unfavorably and 12 percent said they do not know or have no opinion. Registered Democrats accounted for about half of the people surveyed.
A Siena poll spokesman described the favorability rating as a positive result for Hochul, noting that “for the first time in nearly a year, more New York voters now view Hochul favorably than have an unfavorable view of her.”
The poll was conducted earlier this month and solicited opinions from 807 registered voters in New York.
A bipartisan majority of registered voters overwhelmingly believe the migrant crisis in New York is a serious problem, with nearly two thirds casting it as a “very serious” matter. The concern about the influx of migrants, which led Hochul to recently propose allocating $2.4 billion in the next state budget to deal with the problem, transcended political lines and also is an issue for individuals across regional, ethnic, religious, age and economic subsets, according to the poll.
A majority said they disapprove of Hochul’s handling of the crisis, with the governor fairing slightly worse than New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Democrats are fairly split on the governor’s response to the crisis, with 48 percent in favor and 44 percent not pleased. The Biden administration faired the worst, with two thirds of New Yorkers disapproving of the White House’s handling of the border crisis.
A bipartisan plurality of New Yorkers said Hochul has been the least successful in addressing the migrant influx, when asked about that crisis as well as crime, housing, health care and education. One third of Democrats said the influx of migrants is Hochul’s least successful issue; the next is housing. Republicans polled split their responses on that issue between migrants and crime.
“When asked to choose which issue — health care, education, crime, housing and the migrant influx — Hochul has been most successful in addressing as governor, a plurality of voters, 28 percent, including a majority of Republicans, volunteered that she had been most successful on ‘none’ of these issues,” Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.
“At the same time, on several issues Hochul has championed, voters think she will not make progress in the next year,” Greenberg added, referring to the governor’s pledge to help improve the state’s costof-living and to make New York the artificial intelligence capital of the world.
Presidential election
Hochul continues to outperform President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat. Biden received his lowest approving rate to date in the Siena poll — 43 percent favorable, 53 percent unfavorable.
Despite temperate views on Biden, he remains ahead of former President Donald Trump among New Yorkers. Roughly 41 percent of New Yorkers said they would vote for Biden, 32 percent said they would vote for Trump, 13 percent said they would back independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
For voters not enrolled in a party or registered with a third party, 35 percent support Trump, 21 percent like Kennedy and 20 percent are for Biden. Fifteen percent would not vote for anyone.