NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Nearly half of New York voters approve of the job Kathy Hochul is doing as governor and would pick her over Andrew Cuomo in a potential election, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
The newly released Marist Poll found Hochul has a 49% approval rating from residents, with 31% disapproving and 20% unsure how she is doing.
“Governor Hochul is doing well among New Yorkers in terms of her performance in office and is the frontrunner among Democrats in her primary prospects for the nomination,” says Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “Andrew Cuomo needs to substantially redefine voters’ perceptions of him if he wants to run for governor again.”
While her approval rating matches Cuomo’s from earlier in the year, it is substantially lower than where he stood at the height of the pandemic.
Still, the findings revealed that many New Yorkers strongly support Cuomo’s successor.
A total of 47% of New Yorkers approve of the job Hochul is doing on the economy while 55% give her a thumbs up on her handling of the pandemic.
The poll also found that most New Yorkers believe she is representing all regions of the state and would likely win in a potentially crowded Democratic field.
If next year’s Democratic Primary for governor of New York State were held today, the majority of New Yorkers polled said they would support Hochul over Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
In a four-way race with James, Williams and Cuomo, Hochul would win with 36% of the vote compared to 24% for James, 19% for Cuomo and 9% for Williams.
A total of 822 adults were surveyed between Oct. 4 and 7 and has a margin of error of 4.8 percentage points. Of those polled, 389 were registered Democrats.
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