Hochul job approval at 50 percent among New York voters: poll

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has a 50 percent approval rating among voters in the state, according to a new poll, nearly three months after she was sworn in as chief of the Empire State following Andrew Cuomo’s (D) resignation.

The survey, conducted by Morning Consult, found that half of New Yorkers support Hochul, who has announced she will run for a full term next year, as governor, a 6 percentage point increase from a survey taken during her first 10 days in office.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they disapprove of how Hochul has handled her job, 14 percentage points higher than the poll taken at the outset of her term.

The elevated disapproval was largely driven by independents and Republicans. Thirty-four percent of independents say Hochul is doing a good job compared to 35 percent who give her a poor grade, while only 27 percent of Republicans approve of the job she is doing, compared to 58 percent who are in opposition.

Seventy-four percent of Democrats said they approve of how Hochul has handled her job, compared to 9 percent who said they disapprove.

Hochul’s approval rating among New Yorkers trails just behind that of President Biden, who has a 54 percent approval rating in the Empire State, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D), who has 52 percent approval in his home state.

She does, however, lead Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who gets approval from 47 percent of New Yorkers.

The new polling numbers come as Hochul is gearing up for a fierce gubernatorial primary, where she will face off against New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

James, who was elected attorney general in 2018, announced her bid for the governor’s mansion late last month, arguing that she would be a “force of change.” If elected, she would be the country’s first Black, female governor.

Williams officially jumped into the race last month after much speculation about a potential bid.

Longtime governor Cuomo resigned in August in the wake of an investigation — led by James’s office — that found he sexually harassed 11 women, some of whom worked in his office.

A Marist poll taken early last month, before James and Williams announced their campaigns, found that Hochul was leading both of them in a hypothetical three-way primary race.

Hochul brought in 44 percent support among registered Democrats, followed by James with 28 percent and Williams with 15 percent.

Thirteen percent of respondents said they were unsure.

The Morning Consult poll, conducted between Oct. 29 and Nov. 7, surveyed 3,968 registered voters in New York, including 1,821 Democrats. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.