Zeldin on the move

Gains in GOP poll

Nine weeks before the June 28 primary, a poll suggests Rep. Lee Zeldin is gaining ground in the GOP race for governor against rivals such as former Trump administration official Andrew Giuliani, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and businessman Harry Wilson.

More than a third of Republican registered voters told a Siena College poll released Monday that they have a favorable opinion of Zeldin, the party-endorsed candidate, with just 14% of GOP voters saying they have an unfavorable opinion of him — two points more than a month ago.

His favorability increased by one point since March and is now two points behind Giuliani, whose standing among Republicans appears to be slipping despite having much higher name recognition than his rivals as the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Hopefuls unknown

A majority of GOP voters had no opinion, or appeared unfamiliar with all the Republican candidates except Giuliani in the poll taken April 18-21 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Slightly more Republicans appear familiar with Zeldin compared to weeks ago when he received the official backing of the GOP establishment at its nominating convention on Long Island.

The poll gives Republicans a few reasons to be optimistic about their chances this November of winning their first statewide election in two decades. A plurality of voters said they would prefer to vote for a gubernatorial candidate other than incumbent Democratic Kathy Hochul, with a majority of registered voters overall saying the state is heading in the wrong direction.

“Hochul’s overall job performance rating, the worst it’s ever been, is 21 points under water, after being 11 points under water last month and just two points under water at the start of the year,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said.

“On two top-of-mind concerns for voters, crime and economic issues, voters give Hochul even lower grades,” Greenberg added.

Giuliani in decline

GOP voters also appear to be souring on Andrew Giuliani, whose favorability among them plummeted from 46% in late March to 38%. Giuliani also has an overall unfavorability rating of 31% among Republicans — roughly twice as much as any of the other candidates.

Zeldin also appears to be gaining ground against Astorino, whose favorability among Republicans dropped 10 points over the past month, with his unfavorability ratings rising from 10% to 16%.