Poll: Hochul job performance rating drops; voters like bail law changes

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s job performance rating among voters dropped over the last month to her lowest point since taking office in August, but her tightening of a bail law that critics had said let some dangerous suspects free won support among registered voters, according to a poll released Monday.

The Siena College Research Institute poll also found that 63% voters disapproved of the state’s $600 million financial package to help the Buffalo Bills build a new stadium, while 24% supported the deal.

The poll showed Hochul appears to have helped turn around New Yorkers’ view of the bail law that Republicans and some Democrats have used against her. By 67%-14%, voters supported changes to the 2019 bail law that eliminated bail for misdemeanors and some violent felonies.

Hochul had proposed the changes to the law that give greater power to judges to hold a suspect on bail and cracked down on repeat offenders, while still eliminating bail for many charges. She supports the intent of the law adopted before she took office, which aims to end having a poor suspect languish in jail for weeks or months while a suspect facing the same charge who can afford bail is released.

There was slightly more support for the bail law among voters not enrolled in a political party, which may have helped Hochul, but the vast majority of these unaffiliated voters still believed the bail law was “bad for New York” in the poll, said Steven Greenberg of the Siena poll.

Hochul took a hit on her job performance as she campaigns for the June Democratic primary against two opponents.

The poll showed that 69% of voters had a negative view of her job performance, while 36% viewed her performance positively, according to the poll. The same poll a month ago found 53% of voters had a negative view of Hochul’s job performance while 43% had a positive view.

The view among Democrats less than three months before her primary contest was better. Hochul’s job performance was viewed favorably by 55% of Democrats, with 43% of Democrats giving her a negative job performance rating. A month ago, her job performance was viewed favorably by 63% of Democrats, with 33% holding a negative view.

“Hochul’s overall job performance rating, the worst it’s ever been, is 21 points under water, after being 11 points under water last month and just 2 points under water at the start of the year,” said Greenberg. “Overall, 45% of voters say they’d vote for ‘someone else’ in November if Hochul is the Democratic nominee, while 40% are prepared to elect her to a full term … (but) among Democrats, her favorability rating is 60%-16%, far better than her primary opponents.”

This is Hochul’s lowest job-approval rating since she took office in August when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

“The honeymoon is over,” said Gerald Benjamin, retired political scientist at SUNY New Paltz, noting that Hochul, New York’s first woman governor, is no longer seen simply as Cuomo’s replacement.

“She is getting less credit for who she is not, and being given more responsibility as an incumbent for negatives,” Benjamin said.

Despite those figures, Hochul’s favorability among voters has changed little from the past month. Among all registered voters questioned, 44% have a favorable impression of Hochul as a person, compared to 34% who don’t.

The favorability for her Democratic challengers was: 38% favorable and 14% unfavorable for New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn; and 26% positive and 16% negative for Rep. Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove.

The poll questioned 806 registered voters from April 18 to Thursday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.