New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is currently leading Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, in the race for the governorship 50-41%, according to information gathered from a Siena Poll of likely New York State voters that was released recently. However, the caveat here is that the lead Hochul has over Blakeman is shrinking by the day, indicating that the Empire State flipping red isn’t an impossibility after all.
The poll also discovered that while only half of likely voters are supporting Hochul’s reelection bid, two-thirds of those who were surveyed are convinced that Hochul will win, including 37% of Republicans. When the poll asked voters whether President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Blakeman would be a positive or a negative, 51-30% who participated said that it would be negative.
The opposite is true for Hochul being endorsed by Democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as likely voters say his support will be a positive. The vast majority of New Yorkers are also not on board with Trump’s renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, 74-19%. They are also not fans of new large data centers in their part of the state after the state’s one-year moratorium on them expires, 63-25%.
“With six weeks until election day, voters offer good news to both Hochul and Blakeman. She now has the support of 50% of voters and saw her favorability and job approval ratings edge into positive territory. He now trails by single digits – well, nine points – in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than two-to-one,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg went on to say, according to a report from Siena.
“At this time four years ago, Hochul led Lee Zeldin 17 points, 54-37%, before going on to win by six points,” Greenberg added. “Currently, Blakeman is doing a better job with Republicans, leading 88-8%, than Hochul is with Democrats, leading 81-11%. Additionally, Blakeman is holding onto a narrow lead among independents, 44-39%, nearly the same as last month, 45-40%.”
“Hochul has a dominant lead in New York City, 61-27%, and the two are running neck and neck in the downstate suburbs – Hochul 48-46% – and upstate, Blakeman 47-44%,” Greenberg explained. He then discussed why so many are convinced Hochul is going to win the race despite having such a low approval rating among voters.
“Given a nine-point race, it might seem surprising that two-thirds of voters think Hochul will win. On the other hand, voters haven’t elected a Republican governor in 24 years, and there is that two-to-one Democratic enrollment edge, so it may not be surprising that more than one-third of Republicans think Hochul will win, as do 61% of independents, although only 39% of independents currently plan to vote for her,” Greenberg said.
"*" indicates required fields
Blakeman has been a very vocal opponent of Hochul’s sanctuary state policies, especially her latest law which prohibits local law enforcement departments and state agencies from having cooperative agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in operations designed to detain and deport illegal aliens.
While he initially fought against the new legislation, he eventually decided to comply with it, though he still called it out for putting New York residents at risk of becoming victims of violent crimes perpetrated by criminal illegals. “This is one of the saddest days of my life as county executive, that because of this terrible and bad law that we have to adhere to I know it is going to make it more dangerous in Nassau County,” Blakeman stated. “I believe in the rule of law, even when it is a bad law and this is a very bad and dangerous law,” Blakeman said.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video