Hochul, Mamdani gain support in polls post-endorsement

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Governor Kathy Hochul’s job approval and favorability ratings are up, and she maintains her lead over the likeliest Republican opponent in the race for governor, Congressmember Elise Stefanik, according to the Siena Poll that came out on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Marist Poll released that same day shows Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani with a lead in the New York City mayoral race against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Hochul and Stefanik

Hochul’s job ratings stand at 54% approval and 40% disapproval, her best approval rating since February 2023, per the Siena Poll. They also found Hochul’s favorability at 45% favorable to 42% unfavorable, marking the first time that rating turned positive since April 2025 and her best favorability rating since January 2024.

Hochul holds a 25-point lead over Stefanik in a potential head-to-head gubernatorial match-up, earning the support of 52% of voters polled compared to the congressmember’s 27%. Pollsters called it the first time the governor clinched more than 50% in this match-up.

The Siena Poll also found that, asked if they’d reelect the governor, 37% of voters would, while 51% preferred “someone else.” Even so, it showed Stefanik with a 21% favorable and 34% unfavorable rating, a decline from her 27% favorable and 32% unfavorable rating in August. Indeed, the poll showed her trailing the governor in New York City, the downstate suburbs, and upstate.

Beyond the head-to-head numbers, Siena offers more on Hochul’s standing with different constituencies. A majority of voters polled credited Hochul with working hard for New Yorkers, providing decisive leadership, getting things done, and demonstrating honesty and integrity.

The governor has a 41-point lead over Stefanik in New York City, a 23-point lead in the suburbs, and a 9-point lead upstate. When broken down by race, Hochul leads with white voters (46% to 35%), Black voters (73% to 6%), and Latino voters (65% to 19%). Hochul’s lead with independent voters, who were leaning toward Stefanik last month, now support the incumbent 43% to 25%.

Mamdani and NYC

The latest Marist Poll showed New York two most recent governors, Hochul and Cuomo, in very different political positions. And a desire for change and new leadership was present throughout New York City, according to poll findings.

While many believe the city is headed in the right direction, they see Mamdani as the candidate most likely to bring change across the notoriously expensive five boroughs. According to Dr. Lee Miringoff, the Director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, Mamdani’s support comes from Democrats and non-enrolled voters, “the same coalition he had when he come from behind to win that [Democratic] primary.”

Cuomo “needs something and something large to change the dynamic of this race” to become more competitive, Miringoff said. Indeed, Mamdani has a 21-point lead over Cuomo in the race for mayor, according to the Marist Poll. It surveyed New York City’s likely voters, while Siena surveyed New York State’s registered voters.

Per Marist, Mamdani had 45% of the vote, compared to Cuomo’s 24%, Curtis Sliwa’s 17%, and the 9% clinched by current Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. But that lead gets cut in half to ten percentage points—49% to 39%—in a head-to-head match-up against Cuomo, who’d attract Sliwa and Adams supporters in a scenario without them. Cuomo would get a majority of support from Republicans, while Mamdani would hold onto Democrats.

Besides Mamdani, voters polled offered mostly negative views of the candidates. The Assemblymember had a 52% favorable rating among likely voters in the city compared to 40% unfavorable, but among statewide registered voters, it’s 30% favorable to 38% unfavorable. The ex-governor, meanwhile, had a 39% favorable rating and a 59% unfavorable rating in NYC according to Marist, and 33% favorable to 57% unfavorable in NYS according to Siena.

Only 26% of New York State’s registered voters polled had a favorable opinion of Adams, while 48% had an unfavorable opinion. Overall, few likely voters had positive opinions of Mamdani’s opponents, including the Republican Sliwa (27% favorable to 33% unfavorable). Still, a majority of Republicans viewed him favorably.

Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary on a platform of affordability. His proposals include making city buses free, freezing rent on rent-stabilized units, and raising the city’s minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030.

Cuomo, now running as an independent, has focused on his experience as governor and as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, touting his ability to manage crises. His campaign has articulated a “crisis of affordability, a crisis of public safety and a crisis of leadership” in New York City.

The endorsement

Citing his commitment to affordability, public safety, and opposing the Trump agenda, Hochul endorsed Mamdani on Sunday. She said that she’s confident in him despite some disagreements after frank conversations about the New York Police Department and antisemitism. She reported that Mamdani agreed to work with her on these issues.

After months spent circling the wagons, the endorsement prompted responses from Stefanik and Trump, who threatened to withhold federal funding. “No reason to be sending good money after bad!” he posted on Truth Social. He dubbed Mamdani the “Liddle’ Communist” and called the endorsement shocking and bad for New York City.

Hochul said that Trump is “inserting himself into our local election” to “clear the field for his designated choice,” Cuomo. She has argued that Trump’s abhorrent and destructive policies hurt New York’s economy and that anyone who accepts his influence—Cuomo, Adams, and Sliwa—is “compromised from the start.” On Monday, the governor said that what sealed the deal was Mamdani’s resolve to “stand up to Donald Trump, shoulder to shoulder with me.”

Stefanik echoed Trump’s sentiments, calling the Assemblymember a communist and saying the endorsement shows how “politically toxic” Hochul is. She noted that “Commie Mamdani” declined to endorse the governor’s own reelection bid for “worst governor in America.”

In a press conference in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination on Monday, Hochul drew a connected political violence to rhetoric like Stefanik’s. She said that everyone in a position of authority needs to be aware of the “impact that words have.”

Other issues polled

Hochul has said that affordability is her top priority as governor. Specifically, Hochul said she and Mamdani align on universal childcare while disagreeing on raising taxes on the ultra wealthy. The Marist Poll found that just 12% of respondents in New York City described living there as affordable.

Still, by a razor-margin, voters in New York also think the state is on a better path than it was last month. Siena found that 42% said the state is on the right track, while 41% said it’s headed in the wrong direction. It’s the first time the “right track” surveyed higher than “wrong direction” since Hochul took office in October 2021. It’s also an improvement over last month, when 41% said we were on the right track and 45% said we were going in the wrong direction.

Voter perceptions of crime in New York State have also shifted slightly. Surveyed on the problem of crime in New York State, 23% of voters said it has gotten better in the last year, 38% said it stayed the same, and 35% said it’s worse. This represents a decrease from December 2024, when 54% of voters said crime in the state had gotten worse.

Meanwhile, in their own communities, 19% of voters said crime has gotten better over the past year, 52% said it stayed the same, and 27% said it’s worse. And 54% are still worried about becoming a crime victim, though that’s down from 58% in December 2024.

Many of New York’s national political leaders have low favorability. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has a 42% favorable to 45% unfavorable rating, an improvement from August’s all-time low of 38% favorable to 50% unfavorable. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had a 34% favorable to 31% unfavorable rating, representing a decrease from February.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—who is not an elected official but has previously claimed New York residency—has his worst favorability rating ever at 35% favorable to 56% unfavorable. The poll also found the favorability rating of native New Yorker Trump at 34% favorable and 61% unfavorable, representing his lowest since September 2023.

Continuing nationally, a majority of New Yorkers—57% to 37%—don’t want Trump to deploy the National Guard to New York City. Doing so is opposed by 61% of New York City voters and 57% of suburban voters. Women opposed sending troops to the city by a two-to-one margin, while men opposed it by a narrower 52% to 46%.

A majority of New York voters also sided against the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” believing it will have negative consequences. With Trump presenting the legislation as only cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, and detractors arguing that it will threaten necessary healthcare, those polled opposed the bill and the Trump perspective 63% to 27%. That’s especially true among Democrats (78%) and independents (65%).

Methodology

The two polls used for this report subscribe to the American Association of Public Opinion Research’s Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. Both the Marist and the Siena Polls are nonpartisan, university-based research centers that include undergraduate students in their survey research.

The findings from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion represented the first poll in New York City since the Democratic primary. Located at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, the Marist Poll was founded in 1978. They conducted this public opinion survey from September 8 to September 11, contacting 1,470 adults through phone, text, or online methods. The results for the 885 likely voters in New York City have a margin of error of ±4.1%.

The Siena Poll comes out every month, surveying registered voters from the independent Siena Research Institute in Loudonville, outside of Albany. Conducted from September 8 to September 10 among 802 New Yorkers who are registered voters, the poll had a margin of error of ±4.2%. The poll was conducted with landlines, cell phones, and an online panel.