News & Politics
Hochul leads Blakeman by just 13 points in latest Siena poll
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead over her likely GOP opponent has shrunk by half over the past two months.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is catching up to Gov. Kathy Hochul in the polls. Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images
While Gov. Kathy Hochul still holds a double-digit lead over her likely GOP gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman, the latest poll from Siena College shows that lead has continued to dwindle.
According to the new poll, Hochul would beat Blakeman, the current Nassau County executive, by 13 points among registered voters. That’s down 7 points from Siena’s previous poll released at the start of the month, and an even bigger dip compared to the 26-point lead the governor had in an early February survey. The latest poll, which had Hochul beating Blakeman 47-34%, is also the first time this year Hochul has not won the support of a majority of registered voters. While Democrats and Republicans remained largely split along party lines, Blakeman now has more support among independents, taking the group after Hochul previously held a slim plurality.
“While Hochul maintains very narrow leads upstate and in the downstate suburbs, her lead in New York City fell from 46 points, 63-17%, last month to 29 points, 54-25%, today,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. “Is that movement or merely noise? Let’s see what happens next month after the budget and as the campaign unfolds.”
A recent poll from Tusk Strategies reported in Politico New York came to a similar conclusion as the Siena poll. According to that poll, Hochul holds a 15-point lead over Blakeman.
Despite the narrowing race, Blakeman still remains largely unknown among registered voters surveyed by Siena. A whopping 64% of New Yorkers said they did not know who he was, or had no opinion of him.
Additionally, the poll found that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani remains overall popular across the state, even if his favorability fell slightly compared to the survey released earlier this month. His proposal to raise the personal income taxes on wealthy New York City residents also maintained a slight majority of support among registered voters. The poll comes just a day after Blakeman held a press conference in New York City denouncing Mamdani’s proposals to tax the rich.