Governor Kathy Hochul's favorability and job approval ratings hit new low

Governor Kathy Hochul's favorability rating has hit a new low, according to a new Siena College poll of registered New York voters released Monday.

Hochul's favorability rating is now 40-49 percent. That's down from 41-46 percent in February.

Her job approval also dropped, falling from 48-47 percent in February to 45-49 percent. That's her worst approval rating in a Siena College poll.

“Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings improved from last fall to January of this year, but her ratings since then fell, both in February and this month,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “It is the first time that her job approval rating has been underwater, now 45-49%, and her favorability rating is now nine points underwater, 40-49%."

Greenberg says Democrats continue to view Hochul favorably and approve of the job she's doing by about two-to-one. But 79 percent of Republicans view her unfavorably and 81 percent disapprove of the job she's doing.

TRUMP MANHATTAN TRIAL

Yuki Iwamura/AP

Also found in the Siena poll: A majority (60 percent) of New Yorkers say they are paying attention to the criminal trial against former President Donald Trump, who is accused of falsifying business records. And 54-30 percent say the trial is 'legitimate', rather than a 'witch hunt'.

“A majority of New Yorkers, 60% – including 68% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans and 50% of independents – are paying a great deal or some attention to Trump’s ongoing trial,” Greenberg said.
“And a majority of New Yorkers, 54%, say the Manhattan proceedings are ‘a legitimate trial to determine' whether Trump is or is not guilty of criminal behavior, rather than a ‘witch hunt’ to ‘interfere in this year’s presidential election,’ a view held by 30%," he continued.

Greenberg says more than three-quarters of Democrats and a plurality of independents say the trial is legitimate, while two-thirds of Republicans call it a witch hunt.