Majority of New Yorkers want someone other than Kathy Hochul for governor in 2026: poll
The majority of New Yorkers want someone other than Kathy Hochul as governor in 2026, a stunning new poll shows – as the Democrat faces blowback for her new Manhattan congestion toll.
Some 57% of voters of all parties prefer someone else in the next election while only 33% said they’d vote for Hochul if she runs again, according to a Siena College poll released Tuesday.
“Hochul has not had a positive favorability rating since January of this year and she has never had 50% or more voters view her favorably,” Siena poll spokesperson Steve Greenberg wrote in a statement as the governor netted only a 39% unfavorability rating to 49% unfavorable.
“And as we now enter the 2026 gubernatorial election cycle, Hochul starts with less than an enthusiastic welcome from the voters,” Greenberg added.
Even fellow Democrats were unenthused partway through Hochul’s first full term as governor — with only 49% saying she should run again in 2026 and 32% believing it was time to pass the baton, the poll showed.
Hochul’s underwater favorability has been creeping upwards, with this month’s -10% net favorability rating a slight improvement from her -15 favorability rating last month and -20 in October.
Hochul’s poll numbers have been dismal for months, at one point technically dipping below those of President Trump in deep blue New York. The governor has largely dismissed concerns about her popularity and insisted her policies are popular.
Yet a mere 29% of those surveyed approved of Hochul’s recent decision to launch a controversial congestion toll to enter lower Manhattan that will start at $9 and skyrocket in the coming years. A whopping 51% of respondents in the statewide survey said they opposed the decision.
“There is essentially no group of New Yorkers that support the Governor’s reinstituted $9 congestion pricing plan for Manhattan,” Greenberg said.
“Democrats come close to break even, with opponents edging out supporters 42-40%,” he added. “It’s opposed by City voters nearly two-to-one and downstate suburbanites better than two-to-one.”
More than half of the survey’s respondents also said New York should support Trump’s promises to deport people who are in the country illegally.
Of the 834 people surveyed, 54% said the state should support deportation efforts and 35% said it should work to counter Trump.
Some 47% of Latinos surveyed by Siena indicated support for Trump’s deportation pledges.
“A majority of voters from the City, 51%, upstate, 54%, and the downstate suburbs, 58%, want the State to support the Feds efforts,” Greenberg said. “Supporting the Feds also has majority support from white and Black voters, and a plurality of Latino voters, 47-36%.”
The poll has also shed some light on some of Hochul’s possible challengers in 2026.
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), an outspoken Hochul critic eyeing a gubernatorial run is still relatively unknown statewide. While the former city councilman had 17% favorability, 68% of respondents said they didn’t know who he was, the poll showed.
Torres fares stronger in the five boroughs where only 52% said they didn’t know him. He also carried a 34% to 14% favorable to unfavorable rating in the city. That’s compared to Hochul’s 44% to 42% favorable to unfavorable rating in the Big Apple
Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who has publicly mused a run for governor, was under water in the poll. Respondents gave him a 17% to 20% favorable to unfavorable rating, with 65% saying they were unfamiliar with the former assemblyman.
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, a former Hudson Valley congressman who made efforts to boost his profile by stumping for other Dems during this past election is also still suffering from low name recognition. While 17% said they approved of Delgado, 68% of those surveyed said they didn’t know the LG.
