Gov. Hochul’s popularity slips, but NY voters like the state budget, poll says

New Yorkers have soured slightly on Gov. Hochul, with her favorability rating in Siena College’s statewide survey slipping into negative territory for the first time, the pollster said Tuesday.

But Hochul, who had a 40% favorability rating and 50% job approval rating in the poll, scored strong marks for the much-delayed state budget she pushed through Albany this spring.

Thirty-eight percent of New Yorkers said they thought the budget would be good for the state, and 26% said they thought it would be bad, according to the survey, which was conducted by phone last week.

Eighty percent supported the billion dollars Hochul secured for mental health services; 64% backed the budget deal’s minimum wage hike and 59% supported its tweaks to bail reform.

Hochul signed into law the policy-packed, month-late $229 billion budget bill two weeks ago. An ambitious housing plan championed by the governor was scrapped during the budget negotiations.

Tuesday’s survey results seemed to signal that some New Yorkers whose views on the Democratic governor have cooled still remain relatively satisfied with the job she is doing.

Hochul enjoyed impressive polling figures after she took office in 2021 through the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

She is six months removed from her 6-point victory over former Rep. Lee Zeldin in the fall governor’s race.

The governor’s favorability and approval ratings both dropped — in modest amounts — in three surveys through the winter and into the spring, said Steven Greenberg, Siena’s pollster.

“What we’re seeing with Hochul is a trend — a small trend, but a trend,” Greenberg said. “I think that would give the governor and her team pause.”

Most respondents in the latest Siena poll — 58% — deemed the governor hard-working, but they were evenly split on whether she is effective and on whether she is a strong leader.

President Biden’s statewide favorability rating landed at 51% in the poll. Mayor Adams’ favorability score was 31%, with 33% undecided on the New York City leader.

The survey of 810 voters had a margin of error of 4.1%, according to Siena.

Sixty percent of New York Republican voters in the poll reported wanting Donald Trump to be the GOP’s nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

Fifty-six percent of New York Democrats said they wanted Biden as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 race, a 13-point spike from March. Biden announced his reelection run last month.

The survey also found public support for the U.S. Supreme Court cratering in New York after the court’s unpopular rulings on abortion and guns last year.

The 37% share of New Yorkers who viewed the nation’s top court favorably in the poll marked a 14-point drop since October 2021 and 26-point drop since July 2012.

Every region of New York State views the Supreme Court unfavorably, Greenberg said.