Hochul leading Democrats in primary for New York governor: poll

New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who is slated to become the state’s chief executive next week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) resignation goes into effect, is leading among potential 2022 Democratic gubernatorial candidates in a new poll.

The survey, conducted by co/efficient, asked likely Democratic primary voters whether they would support Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) or someone else in the gubernatorial primary if it were held today.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they would support Hochul, followed by 24 percent who said they would vote for James and 5 percent who threw their support behind de Blasio.

Fourteen percent of those polled said they would support someone else in the primary, and 29 percent said they are still undecided.

The poll, conducted Aug. 15 and 16, comes amid a shake-up in New York politics following Cuomo’s resignation announcement.

The embattled three-term governor said he was stepping down, effective in 14 days, after James’s office released a bombshell report outlining its investigation that found that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, some of whom he worked with, and violated state and federal laws.

The report also found that Cuomo and some of his aides retaliated against one woman who came forward with allegations.

Cuomo’s resignation further opened the field for the state’s 2022 gubernatorial contest. He was slated to run for reelection next year, in an attempt to best his father’s three-term tenure as governor of the Empire State, but the odds of that are now unlikely.

Hochul announced last week that she intends on running for a full term next year.

Neither James or de Blasio have announced bids for the governorship, but they are among two of the most watched politicians in the state.

In a direct match-up between Hochul and James, the race came close: 34 percent of respondents said they would vote for Hochul, with 32 percent opting for James. Thirty-four percent of respondents said they were unsure of how they would vote between the two if the election were held that day.

The co/efficient poll found that Hochul has a 42 percent favorable rating among likely Democratic primary voters, and a 9 percent unfavorable rating. Still, however, 48 percent of respondents said they are unsure of their opinion on the lieutenant governor.

James had a 57 percent favorable rating in the poll, with 11 percent saying they have an unfavorable opinion towards her. Nearly a third of respondents, 32 percent, however, said they are unsure of their opinion on the attorney general.

De Blasio’s unfavorable rating was nearly double that of his favorable rating among likely Democratic voters. Twenty-four percent of respondents gave de Blasio a positive mark, with 47 percent giving him a negative rating.

Thirty-percent of respondents, however, said they were unsure of their opinion on the Big Apple’s mayor.

The poll, which surveyed 814 likely Democratic primary voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.43 percentage points.