NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Gov. Kathy Hochul's run for a full term in her current position looks promising in various scenarios, including in a matchup against ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a new poll out Tuesday.
The Siena College poll tries a few different scenarios, including one that pits Hochul against ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In that situation, Hochul leads the field by 14% — garnering 31% of the vote, while Cuomo still manages to come in second with 17%, despite his resignation in disgrace back in August due to sexual misconduct allegations.
James follows in third at 14%, Williams gets 7% and Blasio comes in last with 6%.
With Cuomo taken out of the equation, Hochul’s lead jumps to a 39%-20% advantage over James, while de Blasio actually moves ahead of Williams, 10%-8%.
When pitted against each other directly, Hochul comes out victorious over James 47%-31%.
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“Predicting June’s Democratic gubernatorial ballot 36 weeks from primary day, four months before a state party convention with only Hochul declared is not for the faint hearted,” said said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “We are 36 weeks away with an unknown field, and most potential candidates being, like Hochul, largely unknown to a wide swath of voters.”
At this point, Williams, James and de Blasio are considering a run at the governor’s mansion, but have not officially declared.
Meanwhile, Cuomo is a wild card of sorts. The poll found one in six Dems would support the ex-governor over the field, despite 57% of those surveyed saying his resigning was a good move.
Pollsters also said the vote coming from New York City is much closer and intriguing than other parts of the state.
“In all three horseraces, the vote is tight in New York City, the region producing the most Democratic primary votes,” said Greenberg. “James leads Hochul with Black Democrats in all three configurations, while Hochul is ahead by even larger margins with both white and Latino Democrats in all three. Hochul leads with both liberals and moderates.”
Meanwhile, Hochul’s favorability rating came in at 42%-26%, down from 42%-17% last month, while her job performance rating slipped into the negatives, at 43%-45%.
Among other interesting finds in the poll — former President Donald Trump now has a higher favorability rating (37%-59%) than both Cuomo (33%-60%) and de Blasio (25%-56%).
New Yorkers also said by a 50%-26% margin that the state’s best days are still to come, although that was a slight dip from the month before.
The Siena poll was conducted from Oct. 10-14 among 801 registered New York voters, with an overall margin of error of 4.1%.
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