Siena Poll: Hochul’s Approval and Popularity Are Down But Lead Over Blakeman is Up

Buffalo Toronto Public Media | By BTPM Staff

Governor Kathy Hochul, who is seeking re-election this November, gets mixed results in the latest Siena Research Institute survey, released Tuesday morning.

Her favorability and job approval ratings have both fallen four points since Siena’s last poll in March. Those responding to the latest survey give Hochul a 41 to 46 percent favorability rating (the margin of error in the survey is about four percent), her lowest rating since June 2025. Her job approval rating fell to 44 to 48 percent, her lowest numbers since April 2025.

The more significant drops, according to Siena Research Institute, came among independents, men and New York City voters who participated in the survey.

Though her popularity is down, Hochul actually gained points against her Republican challenger, Bruce Blakeman. The Siena survey shows her to hold a 49 to 33 percent lead, up from 47 to 34 in March.

Blakeman, according to the survey, still struggles to gain recognition among voters beyond his base in Nassau County, with 64 precent of respondents saying they either haven’t heard of him or have no opinion of him.

A majority of respondents were partisan in their choice for governor, with three quarters of Democrats and Republicans favoring Hochul and Blakeman, respectively, in Siena’s latest poll. Independents favored Blakeman by two percentage points, but that was down seven points since March.

Hochul leads Blakeman by 45 points in New York City, but only by a handful of points elsewhere in the state.

Image Credit: Don Pollard/Office of the Governor