Poll: Hochul's lead over Blakeman down to 10 points

Albany, N.Y. (WBEN) - The latest poll on the New York Gubernatorial race has Gov. Kathy Hochul's lead over Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman down to 10 points.

Hochul leads the Nassau County Executive 49-39% in a new Siena Poll of likely voters released on Wednesday. In June, Hochul led Blakeman 52-32% in a poll of registered voters.

“At this point four years ago, August 2022, when Hochul was just finishing her first year as governor, she led her opponent, former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin by 14 points, 53-39%, before going on to ultimately win the election by six points, 53-47%," said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg.

Hochul has a 46-49% favorability rating, while Blakeman has a 33-26% favorability rating, with 40% not knowing enough to have an opinion.

As usual, the partisan divide is evident in the numbers.

“While Hochul has a 10-point lead, likely voters think she’ll do a better job than Blakeman on increasing affordable housing by 16 points. That’s the good news for Hochul. The bad news is that voters think she’s better than Blakeman on four other issues – affordability, energy, safety, and immigrants – by between only one and seven points,” Greenberg said.

“Holding to form, Democrats overwhelmingly think Hochul will be better on all issues than Blakeman, and Republicans overwhelmingly think Blakeman will be better. Independents favor Hochul by nine points on housing, but favor Blakeman by between eight and 15 points on the other four issues."

Other Notes

• By two-to-one, 52-25%, voters say New York’s one-year moratorium on new large data centers is the right decision, including 61% of Democrats, 51% of independents, and a plurality of Republicans, 40-27%.
• In another first for Siena, voters were asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable view of artificial intelligence (AI). Overall, voters give AI a negative 29-52% favorability rating. A majority of Democrats, joined by pluralities of Republicans and independents, share that negative view of AI.
• Likely voters give the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) a negative 30-47% favorability rating in the first time Siena has asked about the DSA. Democrats view the DSA favorably, 50-21%, while 82% of Republicans and 57% of independents have an unfavorable view of the DSA.