- More Than Half of Voters Say Cost of Living Is the Top Issue Facing New Yorkers; More Than Three-Quarters Name it as One of Top Two Issues; About One-Third Say That Either Affordable Housing or Crime Is One of Their Top Two Issues
- Pluralities of Ds, Rs & Is Say Proposed Redistricting Constitutional Amendment is Bad for New York; Large Majorities Say Utility Rebate Checks, Allowing NYers to Sue Govt. Officials Who Violate Constitution & Ensuring Every Child in NY Has a Right to Public Education, Regardless of Immigration Status, Will All Be Good for New York
- Voters Give Positive Job Approval to Trump for Securing Mexican Border; Negative Approvals for: Ending Wars, Making Prices More Affordable & Making Americans Proud to Be Americans
Loudonville, NY. Governor Kathy Hochul has a 43-44% favorability rating, up a little from 41-46% in April, and her job approval rating is 53-42%, up from 48-44% in April. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman also saw his favorability improve to 25-21%, from 17-19% in April. In the head-to-head matchup, Hochul increased her lead to 20 points, 52-32%, from 16 points, 49-33%, in April, according to a new Siena Poll of New York State registered voters released today.
The cost of living was identified as the most important issue facing New Yorkers by 53% of voters, and one of the two most important by 77%. Affordable housing finished second (13% top issue; 37% top two issue), followed by crime (11%; 31%). Immigration, Iran and the environment were each identified as the top issue by fewer than 10% of voters, and a top two issue by fewer than one-quarter. Voters say the proposed Constitutional amendment to allow for both mid-decade redistricting and partisan map drawing is bad for New York, 44-21%.
“Governor Hochul now has a break-even favorability rating, and a majority of voters approve of the job she’s doing as governor. Hochul gained a little ground against Blakeman, who despite having his best ever favorability rating, still has a majority of voters not knowing him or not knowing enough about him to have an opinion. Her lead is now 20 points, up from 16 points in April,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. “While 78% of Democrats favor Hochul and 79% of Republicans support Blakeman, independents now lean toward Hochul by five points, after tilting toward Blakeman by two points in April. She has also widened her lead in the downstate suburbs from four points in April to 11 points, 49-38%, today,” Greenberg said. “Hochul has a better than three-to-one lead in New York City, and she and Blakeman are virtually tied upstate.”
Voters’ Priorities are Clear: Cost of Living, Cost of Living, Cost of Living
“A clear majority of voters think the cost of living is the most important issue they are facing and an overwhelming majority, 77%, say it is one of the two most important issues for New Yorkers,” Greenberg said. “A majority or large plurality of Democrats, Republicans, independents, upstaters and downstaters, men and women, young and old, Black, Latino or white all say that cost of living is the most important issue. At least 72% of each of those groups of voters say cost of living is one of the two most important issues.
“While affordable housing and crime are the second and third most important issues – they are also the next two for most demographic groups, although the order varies – they are a distant second and third. Slightly fewer than one-third of New Yorkers think crime is one of the two most important issues – only 11% say it’s the top issue – a far cry from the banner headline issue it was just a few years ago,” Greenberg said.
Plurality of Voters Say Redistricting Amendment is Bad for NY; Several Measures Seen as Good for NY
“From suing government officials who violate the Constitution, to ensuring every child in New York has a right to a public education, to utility rebates for consumers, and a moratorium on new data centers, voters think several measures passed by the Legislature and Governor at the end of session will be good for New York,” Greenberg said. “A few of these measures enjoy bipartisan support, which is always nice to see in these hyper-partisan times.
“When it comes to the proposed Constitutional amendment to allow mid-decade and partisan redistricting, there is partisan agreement in opposition to the amendment, which received first passage by the Legislature earlier this month. A majority of Republicans and pluralities of Democrats and independents say the proposed amendment is bad for New York,” Greenberg said. “While these results will make Republican leaders happy, it shows that Democratic leaders have a lot of work to do between now and Election Day 2027 if they want to see this amendment approved by voters.”
Trump Favorability & Job Approval Ratings Remain at 2nd Term Lows; Majorities Disapprove His Handling of Wars, Prices, Making Us Proud; Plurality Approve His Securing Mexican Border
President Donald Trump has a 32-63% favorability rating, virtually unchanged from 33-64% in April. His overall job approval rating is 34-65%, virtually unchanged from 34-64% in April.
“In April, Trump’s favorability and job approval ratings hit second term lows. In the two months since, they’ve barely moved a point,” Greenberg said. “While Democrats continue to give Trump overwhelmingly negative ratings, and independents soured a little further on Trump, about three-quarters of Republicans have a favorable view of Trump and more than three-quarters approve of the overall job he is doing.
“Republicans overwhelmingly approve of the job Trump is doing in securing the border with Mexico, as do a plurality of independents, and even 29% of Democrats, giving Trump the only issue for which a plurality of voters approves,” Greenberg said. “Democrats and independents disapprove of his handling of wars, prices and pride in America, while at least two-thirds of Republicans approve of his handling of each of those.”
Odds & Ends
- Voters seem pleased with the Legislature as it concluded its 2026 session. The Assembly’s favorability rating is now 42-31%, up from 33-36% in April. Similarly, the State Senate’s favorability rating is 42-34%, up from 35-39% in April.
- For the first time in 2026, more voters think the state is on the right track, 44%, rather than headed in the wrong direction, 41%. In April, it was 38-48%. Voters’ view on the direction of the country did not change. It is currently 28-63%, little changed from 29-65% in April.
- NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani also saw an improvement in his favorability rating. It is now 45-34%, up from 43-40% in April. In New York City, his favorability rating is 58-26%, up from 56-34%.
- The Democrats’ lead on the generic congressional ballot is little changed and stands at 52-32%, from 52-33% in April.
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Methodology
This Siena University Poll was conducted June 17-23, 2026, among 1,120 New York State Registered Voters. Of the 1,120 respondents, 456 were contacted through a dual frame (landline and cell phone) mode (206 completed via text to web) and 458 respondents were drawn from a proprietary online panel (Cint). Telephone calls were conducted in English and respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest person in the household. Telephone sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline and cell phone telephone numbers weighted to reflect known population patterns. The landline telephone sample and the cell phone sample were obtained from Marketing Systems Group (MSG). Interviews conducted online are excluded from the sample and final analysis if they fail any data quality attention check question. Duplicate responses are identified by their response ID and removed from the sample. Three questions were asked of online respondents, including a honey-pot question to catch bots and two questions that ask respondents to follow explicit directions. The proprietary panel also incorporates measures that safeguard against automated bot attacks, deduplication issues, fraudulent VPN usage, and suspicious IP addresses. Coding of open-ended responses was done by a single human coder. Data from collection modes was weighted to balance sample demographics to match estimates for New York State’s population using data from the Census Bureau’s 2023 U.S. American Community Survey (ACS), on age, region, race/ethnicity, education, and gender to ensure representativeness. The sample was also weighted to match current patterns of party by region registration using data from the New York State Board of Elections. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error and there may be other unmeasured error in this or any other public opinion poll. The Siena Research Institute (SRI) powered by ReconMR is directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D.. SRI conducts political, economic, social, and cultural research primarily in NYS. SRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, call Steve Greenberg at (518) 469-9858. For survey crosstabs: www.Siena.edu/SRI/SNY.
