Gov. Kathy Hochul’s negative job approval and favorability rating remained mostly unchanged, according to a Siena College poll of registered New York voters released Monday. Respondents did however note their support for several of her recent budget and State of the State proposals.

The governor has a negative 39-47% favorability rating, slightly unchanged from 39-49% in December and up from 36-51% in October, and a job approval rating of 44-48%, also slightly unchanged from 46-49% in December, but up from 41-51% in October, the poll found. 

She has not held a positive favorability rating since last January and has never had a favorability rating 50% or higher in her whole tenure.

Thirty-one percent of responding voters say they would re-elect the governor, but 57% say they want "someone else," according to the poll. Hochul is up for reelection in 2026. 

“Governor Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings continue to languish in negative territory," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. "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."

Pollsters say voters were asked about 10 of Hochul's State of the State and budget proposals and all saw support, eight by large majorities. 

“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," Greenberg said. “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."

Greenberg says Democrats and Republicans support restrictions on cell phones in schools more than independents, while white voters support them more than Black or Latino voters. He also says while three-quarters of voters over age 55 support the proposal, among voters under 35, support is only a narrow 41-37%.

“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.”

When it comes to deporting immigrants illegally in the U.S. convicted of a crime, 79-11% say they support deportation while voters oppose deporting immigrants illegally in the U.S. with no criminal record, 42-39%. According to the poll, voters oppose paying for health care for undocumented immigrants through Medicaid, 59-26% and responded 48-31% in support of federal government efforts to deport illegal migrants.

“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%."

As for the newly sworn-in 47th president, the poll found President Donald Trump has a negative 41-56% favorability rating with voters, up from 37-59% in December, with the 41% matching his highest-ever favorable rating. His early job approval rating is 46-51%, according to the poll, while voters are split on whether Trump will usher in a "new golden age of America," with 48% saying it is likely and 46% saying unlikely. 

“President Trump has not been popular in his former home state for more than a decade," Greenberg said. "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 says Republicans view Trump favorably, 83-13%, while Democrats view him unfavorably, 17-81%.

“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.”  

Respondents remain pessimistic on the outlook of both New York state and the country, with voters saying New York is headed in the wrong direction by a 50-36% margin, exactly the same as it was in December, and 55-37% saying the country is doing the same, down from 60-30%.

Among other national issues, the poll found voters opposed 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%. The poll shows voters support Trump’s proposal mandating only two genders in the U.S., male and female, rescinding policies recognizing transgender Americans, 47-40%. 

Now out of office, former President Joe Biden's favorability went up 45-50% from 37-59% in December. Two-thirds of Democrats view Biden favorably, while 86% of Republicans and 63% of independents view him unfavorably, according to the poll.

The Siena College poll was conducted Jan 27-30 among 803 New York state registered voters. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points.