A new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday gives Gov. Kathy Hochul a 14-point lead over her Republican challenger, Bruce Blakeman.
Likely voters favor Hochul over Blakeman by a 55% to 41% margin.
The incumbent leads him on top issues like the economy and cost of living and is stronger among city voters, but the Republican has the edge in upstate and the suburbs.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 15 and Oct. 19, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
Early voting begins this Saturday, Oct. 24.
Meanwhile, Blakeman on Wednesday netted endorsements from several court officers’ unions who slammed Hochul for what they described as inattention to officer safety and retirement benefit concerns.
Blakeman said the state should be spending more on pensions for law enforcement.
“When you look at the budget, you have to set priorities first and then you have to figure out how much you can spend,” he said during a press conference in Lower Manhattan.
Hochul’s campaign shot back.
“We’re just thirteen days from never having to hear from Trump’s loudest puppet defending ICE’s abuses of power, praising Trump’s war raising gas prices, or saying he’d ‘never be disloyal’ to his boss,” said Hochul campaign spokesman Ryan Radulovacki.
Although Hochul was absent from the campaign trail, her office touted new measures they say cut red tape for businesses and childcare providers.
“These regulations are from a different era. And they’re from before we had, for instance, pre-K as a state-funded or a city-funded priority. They existed before we were trying to provide universal childcare across the state,” said Zoe Jacobs, Hochul’s director of regulatory reform and delivery.
The governor’s office estimates the move will save taxpayers millions of dollars.
“It’s 120 actions across over 20 state agencies. It’s been hard to get to a concrete figure, but we think it’s going to save New Yorkers tens of millions of dollars and over 5 million hours every year,” said Jacobs.