Politics

Hochul struggling with favorability among independents, seeing progress with suburbanites

A recent Siena College Research Institute poll showed Gov. Kathy Hochul with her lowest favorability yet, but suburban voters are liking her more than they did in March when she was trying to force them to build housing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul

Gov. Kathy Hochul Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

While Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability rating dipped into the negatives for the first time since becoming governor in a newly released Siena College Research Institute poll, that wasn’t the only revelation. The majority of voters agree the governor is hard working, but Hochul’s favorability among independents and suburbanites tells a deeper story.

New York is historically a blue state, but the surprisingly competitive gubernatorial race between Hochul and former Rep. Lee Zeldin made it hard to ignore the perspective of independent voters and suburbanites who harness power in statewide competitive races. 

Among independents, Hochul’s favorability rating dropped to 31%, down from 36% in March. Among suburbanites, favorability was still under water at 41%, but it was up 9 points from March, when Hochul was pushing her plan to mandate housing construction in the suburbs. 

The poll findings come after the governor's controversial housing compact plan failed to make it into the final state budget. If implemented, the plan would have required local municipalities to achieve new home construction targets over the next three years and threatened to override local zoning laws if they failed to meet those goals. The proposal received great criticisms from suburban lawmakers who argued against density. The plan also would have renewed tax incentives to build affordable housing. The governor still has high hopes to pass a housing package, while recognizing the best chance to get it done would be next year. 

Forty-five percent of New Yorkers surveyed viewed Hochul unfavorably, compared to 40% who viewed her favorably. That’s down from March when 43-43% saw Hochul poorly and positively. The record-low rating comes after Hochul oversaw the latest budget in over a decade, passing just over a month after the deadline. “While voters think that the recently passed budget and many of its specifics will be good for New York, at the same time they also give Hochul her worst-ever favorability rating – the first time it’s been under water,” Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. “For months, we’ve noted that Hochul’s favorable rating has never hit 50%, now she’s struggling to keep it in the 40s.”

A plurality, 40%, of independent voters said the governor is not honest, 51% of independents say Hochul is not a strong leader and a plurality of 47% of independents assert the governor lacks effectiveness.

Suburbanites weren’t so negative, saying Hochul is hardworking and not corrupt. However, 44%, a plurality of suburbanites, said the governor is not a strong leader, 46% said she is not effective, and 52% said she is out of touch with New Yorkers. 

Although the budget was over a month late, most Democrats, Republicans and independent voters agree some budget proposals will have a positive impact. The poll found Democrats and independent voters largely agree the minimum wage increase and new funding for reproductive health care will be good for the state. 

However, independents are against new building electrification mandates and expanded tax credit. “Overall, Democrats think the budget will be good for the state, Republicans think it will be bad for the state, and independents are more closely divided.” Greenberg said.

Nearly half of voters polled also believe that Hochul is out of touch with New Yorkers, while opinions on whether she's effective and whether she's a strong leader were evenly split among all voters. But Hochul racked up some victories with specific budget policies like giving judges more discretion to set bail, which 59% of voters polled said is good for New York. A whopping 80% said that allocating $1 billion for mental health services is good for New York as well. But a mandate for new buildings starting after 2025 to be fully electric was polarizing, with 40% viewing the measure as good and 39% who said it was bad.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.