Poll: Hochul favorability drops, but voters back her budget initiatives

ALBANY — Voters viewed Gov. Kathy Hochul less favorably after the new state budget was adopted a month late, but support many of the elements in the spending plan, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The Siena College Research Institute poll found her favorability rating dipped for the first time into the negative: 45% of voters polled gave her a negative rating compared with 40% who had a favorable view. In March, it was 43% to 43%.

The Democrat’s job approval rating also dropped, to 50% with 44% disapproving of the job she’s doing. In March, the divide was 52% to 41%.

A plurality of voters, however, believe the budget she negotiated with the State Legislature will be good for New York state: 38% believed so, compared with 26% who said the budget won’t be good for New York.

Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agree that five of Hochul’s priorities are good for New York:

59% supported providing judges with more discretion in setting bail for serious crimes; , 64% supported raising the minimum wage by $2 over the next three years and linking future increases to inflation; , 80% supported increasing funding for mental health services, including in schools, by $1 billion; , 59% supported increasing by $100 million funds for abortion providers and reproductive health care; , 58% supported cracking down on unauthorized sellers of cannabis products, which has hurt the state’s new and legal cannabis industry, .

Only Democrats, however, supported Hochul’s plan to require most new buildings be powered by electricity to reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

The $229 billion budget was adopted May 1.

“Since January, Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings have both dropped in each of the last three Siena polls. Job approval has fallen by 14 points and favorability by 11 points,” said Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll.

“Democrats say Hochul is effective and a strong leader; Republicans and independents disagree,” Greenberg said. “Nearly half of New Yorkers say Hochul is out of touch with average New Yorkers, including a narrow plurality of Democrats.”

This was Hochul’s first budget as an elected governor. She rose to the office from lieutenant governor in August 2021 when then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Overall, voters polled were a bit more optimistic about the direction of the state: 43% said New York is on the right track with 48% saying it is on the wrong track. That’s a change from 39% who thought New York was on the right track in March, compared with 48% saying it was on the wrong track.

The poll was conducted May 7 through Thursday and questioned 810 registered voters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.