https:\/\/sri.siena.edu\/2026\/08\/12\/siena-poll-of-likely-new-york-state-voters-hochul-49-blakeman-39\/<\/a><\/p>\nDemocratic Governor Kathy Hochul leads Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman 49-39%, according to a new Siena Poll of likely New York State gubernatorial voters released today (Siena\u2019s first poll of likely voters this cycle). In June, among registered voters, Hochul led Blakeman 52-32%. In other statewide races, Attorney General Letitia James (D) leads her challenger, Saritha Komatireddy (R), 54-36%, and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli (D) leads Joseph Hernandez (R) 55-32%.<\/p>\n
Likely voters say Hochul will do a better job than Blakeman increasing the supply of affordable housing, 51-35%. They say she will do a better job making prices more affordable for average New Yorkers, 48-41% and developing New York\u2019s energy future, 47-42%. They are closely divided on keeping New Yorkers safe, Hochul 47-44%, and addressing undocumented immigrants living in New York, 45-44% Hochul.<\/p>\n
Asked whether four character traits do or do not describe Blakeman and Hochul, likely voters say Blakeman is \u2018tough\u2019 by 25 points and Hochul by two points. They say Blakeman is \u2018honest\u2019 by five points and Hochul is not by two points, and Blakeman \u2018gets things done\u2019 by eight points and Hochul by five points. On being \u2018in touch with average New Yorkers,\u2019 Blakeman is underwater by four points and Hochul is underwater by 12 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith less than three months till Election Day, Hochul holds a 10-point lead over Blakeman, 49-39%, not crossing the magic 50% mark. In June, among registered voters, Hochul\u2019s lead was twice as large, 52-32%,\u201d Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. \u201cAt this point four years ago, August 2022, when Hochul was just finishing her first year as governor, she led her opponent, former Republican Congressman (and current EPA Administrator) Lee Zeldin by 14 points, 53-39%, before going on to ultimately win the election by six points, 53-47%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hochul has a 46-49% favorability rating and a 48-49% job approval rating, while Blakeman has a 33-26% favorability rating, with 40% not knowing enough to have an opinion. By comparison, in August 2022, Hochul had a 46-41% favorability rating among likely voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot surprisingly, both candidates are holding on to their partisan bases, as Hochul leads among Democrats<\/p>\n
80-8% and Blakeman leads among Republicans 84-9%. Likely independent voters favor Blakeman by a narrow five-point margin, 45-40%,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cHochul holds a commanding 64-19% lead in New York City, but trails Blakeman in the downstate suburbs by eight points, 49-41%. They are running virtually even in upstate, as well as among men and with white voters; Hochul has large leads with women, Latinos and Black voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Hochul has a 10-point lead, likely voters think she\u2019ll do a better job than Blakeman on increasing affordable housing by 16 points. That\u2019s the good news for Hochul. The bad news is that voters think she\u2019s better than Blakeman on four other issues \u2013 affordability, energy, safety, and immigrants \u2013 by between only one and seven points,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cHolding to form, Democrats overwhelmingly think Hochul will be better on all issues than Blakeman, and Republicans overwhelmingly think Blakeman will be better. Independents favor Hochul by nine points on housing, but favor Blakeman by between eight and 15 points on the other four issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet again we see Democrats giving Hochul high marks and Blakeman low marks on all four character traits, and Republicans doing the opposite, giving Blakeman high marks and Hochul low marks,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cWhile independents give Hochul negative ratings on all four traits, they overwhelmingly say Blakeman is tough and also say he gets things done. Independents are divided on whether Blakeman is honest or in touch; they score him better on both than they do Hochul.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Holds 18-Point, 54-36%, Lead Over Komatireddy in Race for AG<\/p>\n
James has a 52-38% favorability rating, compared to 17-12% for Komatireddy. More than two-thirds of likely voters have either never heard of Komatireddy or don\u2019t know enough to have an opinion. (In Siena\u2019s surveys of registered voters, respondents are not given information about individuals before they are asked whether they view that person favorably or unfavorably. In this survey of likely voters, respondents were asked about the three statewide races \u2013 including candidates and their party affiliation \u2013 prior to the favorable\/unfavorable questions.)<\/p>\n
\u201cJames starts this election against a largely unknown challenger with a strong 18-point lead, garnering support from 87% of Democrats, while Komatireddy has the support of 79% of Republicans, and independents are virtually evenly divided. James has a better than three-to-one lead in New York City, to go along with an 8-point lead upstate; the downstate suburbs are closely divided,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cJames\u2019 52% favorable rating is the highest it\u2019s ever been. Komatireddy has her work cut out for her in trying to become known to voters and then convincing them to support her.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Race for State Comptroller, DiNapoli Leads Hernandez by 23 Points, 55-32%<\/p>\n
DiNapoli has a 42-18% favorability rating, with 40% not knowing enough to have an opinion. Hernandez\u2019s favorability rating is 20-11, with 70% not knowing enough about him to have an opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he nears 20 years as comptroller, and seeking election to a fifth full term, DiNapoli is in a commanding position with a 23-point, 55-32% lead over Hernandez. DiNapoli leads 83-5% among Democrats, picks up support from 23% of Republicans, and independents are nearly evenly divided,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cDiNapoli adds to his 42-point lead in New York City with a 20-point lead upstate, and a seven-point lead in the downstate suburbs. Like in the AG\u2019s race, DiNapoli has his highest ever favorability rating, while Hernandez is struggling to become known to the voters of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press release from Siena Polling, https:\/\/sri.siena.edu\/2026\/08\/12\/siena-poll-of-likely-new-york-state-voters-hochul-49-blakeman-39\/ Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul leads Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman 49-39%,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-319443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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