Hochul’s Favorability, Approval & Re-Elect Ratings Remain Underwater; Many of Her Budget / State of State Proposals Enjoy Widespread Support

• Strongest Support: Free Meals for School Kids, Cops on Nighttime Subways, Increasing Child Tax Credit & Restricting Students’ Smartphone Use in Schools
• Trump Favorability – Still Negative – Matches His All Time Best in NY; Voters Divided on Whether Trump Will Usher in a New American Golden Age
• Voters Overwhelming Support (79-11%) Deporting Migrants with Criminal Record; Lean Against (39-42%) Deporting Migrants with No Criminal Record

Press Release     Crosstabs

Loudonville, NY. Governor Kathy Hochul has a negative 39-47% favorability rating and her job approval rating is 44-48%, both little changed from December, according to a Siena College poll of New York State registered voters released today. While 31% of voters say they would re-elect Hochul, 57% want ‘someone else,’ also little changed. By a 52-22% margin voters say Hochul has not improved the fiscal condition of the state in the last year.

Siena asked about 10 of Hochul’s State of the State and budget proposals. All are supported by voters, eight by large majorities. Voters say Hochul’s proposals would improve the lives of New Yorkers if enacted, 42-26%.

President  Donald Trump has a negative 41-56% favorability rating, up from 37-59% in December, with the 41% matching his highest ever favorable rating. His early job approval rating is 46-51%. Voters are split on whether Trump will usher in a ‘new golden age of America,’ with 48% saying it’s likely and 46% saying unlikely.

“Governor Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings continue to languish in negative territory. Currently, 57% of voters – including 41% of Democrats – would prefer ‘someone else’ as their next governor. Only 22% think her administration has improved the state’s fiscal condition over the last year, compared to 52% – including a small plurality of Democrats – who say she hasn’t,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.

“Hochul hasn’t had a positive favorability rating since January 2024. Her favorability rating has never once hit 50% in a state where 49% of voters are Democrats,” Greenberg said. “Never once have a majority of voters viewed Hochul favorably, and at present, only 55% of Democrats view her favorably.

“The good news for the Governor is that 10 of her recent proposals are supported by voters, eight very strongly,” Greenberg said. “Four proposals have strong majority support from Democrats, Republicans and independents, and another four have majority support from all voters, and at least plurality support from Ds, Rs and Is.”

“Providing free breakfast and lunch for all public school students and ensuring a police officer on all overnight subway trains for the next six months are both strongly supported across every demographic breakdown,” Greenberg said. “Also strongly supported – with majority support from every party – are increasing the child tax credit and requiring school districts to restrict smartphone usage by students during the school day.

“Interestingly on cell phones, Democrats and Republicans support restrictions more than independents, white voters support them more than Black or Latino voters, and while three-quarters of voters over 55 support, among voters under 35, support is only a narrow 41-37%,” Greenberg said.

“A potentially hopeful sign for Hochul is that if she successfully gets her proposals adopted – a big ‘if’ over the coming months – voters say, 42-26%, that it would improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers,” Greenberg said. “To be clear, Democrats strongly think it would improve  New Yorkers’ lives, while a large plurality of Republicans and a small plurality of independents do not think passing her proposals would improve lives.”

Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Deporting Criminal Immigrants; Divided on Non-Criminal Immigrants

Voters support deporting immigrants illegally in the U.S. convicted of a crime 79-11% and oppose deporting immigrants illegally in the U.S. with no criminal record, 42-39%. Voters oppose paying for health care for undocumented immigrants through Medicaid, 59-26%. And they continue to say that New York should support federal government efforts to deport illegal migrants, 48-31%, down slightly from 54-35% support in December.

“While there is overwhelming support for deporting illegal immigrants with a criminal record – 91% of Republicans, 86% of independents and 69% of Democrats – voters are closely divided on deporting illegal immigrants without a criminal record,” Greenberg said. “Nearly two-thirds of Republicans and a plurality of independents support deporting non-criminal immigrants, but Democrats oppose such deportations, 59-24%.

“New Yorkers continue to say – at least Republicans and independents do – that the state should support federal efforts to deport illegal migrants,” Greenberg said. “Republicans and independents also overwhelmingly oppose New York paying for health care through Medicaid for undocumented immigrants. Democrats are evenly divided. It is strongly opposed by white voters and is also opposed by a plurality of Black and Latino voters.”

Trump – Loved by Republicans but Definitely Not by Democrats – Matches His Best Ever Favorable Rating

“President Trump has not been popular in his former home state for more than a decade. And while that is still true, Trump now has his best favorability rating, 41-56%, since the month before he took office the first time, December 2016, when his favorability rating was 41-53%,” Greenberg said.

“Currently, Republicans view him favorably, 83-13%, while Democrats view him unfavorably, 17-81%,” Greenberg said. “Independents are in the middle, 48-46%.”

“Will Trump usher in what he calls a new golden age of America? Overall, voters say it’s likely by a very narrow 48-46% margin,” Greenberg said. “While 84% of Republicans and 56% of independents say it’s very or somewhat likely that he will, 69% of Democrats disagree, saying it’s not very or not at all likely.”

Voters Oppose Renaming Gulf of Mexico, Imposing Mexican/Canadian Tariffs & Retaking Panama Canal

Voters oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, 60-20%, imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada, 49-32%, and retaking the Panama Canal, 41-34%. Voters support Trump’s proposal mandating only two genders in the U.S., male and female, rescinding policies recognizing transgender Americans, 47-40%.

“While Republicans support the six Trump proposals, independents support four and Democrats only support one, deporting immigrants convicted of a crime. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico has plurality support from Republicans but is opposed by 55% of independents and 81% of Democrats,” Greenberg said. “When it comes to mandating two and only two genders, that is supported by 83% of Republicans and 53% of independents, while it’s opposed by 62% of Democrats. A majority of men support this, while a plurality of women are opposed.”

“Following the predictable partisan divide a majority of voters think Trump will do no better than only fair or poor preserving the Constitution, lowering the cost of living and enhancing America’s reputation abroad,” Greenberg said. “On securing the borders, Trump gets support from one-third of Democrats, so a majority of all voters think Trump will do an excellent or good job.”

Odds & Ends

• Former President Joe Biden has a 45-50% favorability rating, up from 37-59% in December. Two-thirds of Democrats view him favorably while 86% of Republicans and 63% of independents view him unfavorably.
• By a 50-36% margin, voters say New York state is headed in the wrong direction, exactly the same as it was in December. There was a significant improvement in voters’ view of the country, although it remains decidedly negative. Voters say the country is headed in the wrong direction 55-37%, down from 60-30%.
• Vice President J.D. Vance has a negative 34-51% favorability rating, little changed from 34-53% in September. In his first time asked in a Siena College poll, Elon Musk has a negative 34-58% favorability rating. Both are overwhelmingly viewed favorably by Republicans and unfavorably by Democrats. Independents are split on Vance and lean positive, 45-38% on Musk.

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This Siena College Poll was conducted January 27 – 30, 2025, among 803 NYS Registered Voters. Of the 803 respondents, 506 were contacted through a dual frame (landline and cell phone) mode (198 completed via text to web) and 297 respondents were drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid). 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 was obtained from ASDE and the cell phone sample was obtained from Dynata. Data from collection modes was statistically adjusted by age, party by region, race/ethnicity, education, and gender to ensure representativeness. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social, and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, 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/SCRI/SNY.