New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability rating squeaked up a bit, as did her lead over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in the race for governor, according to a Siena University poll of registered voters released Tuesday.

According to the poll, the governor’s favorability rating stood at 43-44%. Her job approval rating stood at 53-42%, also slightly up. Her lead over Blakeman now stands at 20 points, 52-32%, up from 16 points in April, though Blakeman’s favorability also improved since that time.

“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,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement.

Also good news for Hochul, according to the poll, is a new lead of five points among registered independents, who had gone to 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.” 

With Tuesday’s primary elections in the rearview mirror and the governor’s race looming, the issue of affordability will likely be a key part of the race going forward, and 53% of voters picked it as their most important issue, the poll found, followed by 13% for affordable housing, 11% for crime, and immigration, the Iran conflict and the environment each lower than 10%.

“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.”

When it comes to the recent actions of the state Legislature, some measures saw bipartisan support, including allowing any New Yorker to sue federal state or local government officials who violate the U.S. Constitution, ensuring every child in New York has a right to a public education, utility rebates for consumers and a one-year moratorium on new data center construction, according to the poll.

“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,” Greenberg said. “A majority of Republicans and pluralities of Democrats and independents say the proposed amendment is bad for New York. 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.” 

At the federal level, President Donald Trump has a 32-63% favorability rating statewide, the poll said, which is largely unchanged from 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.”

In regards to other elections this fall, Democrats’ lead on the generic congressional ballot stands at 52-32%, little changed from the prior poll.

The poll was conducted June 17-23 among 1,120 registered New York voters and has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points.