TRUMP TRUMPS HOCHUL: Donald Trump now has a higher favorability rating than Kathy Hochul, according to a Siena College poll released this morning. When asked about the poll at an unrelated press conference this afternoon, the governor pivoted to discussing the state’s battleground House races.
“The only numbers I'm focused on right now are the numbers to make sure that we can ensure that Hakeem Jeffries is the next Speaker of the House Representatives,” Hochul told reporters today, when asked about the poll. “So I'm looking at the number seven. Seven seats we need to flip.” The centrist Democrat has been agitating to help her party reclaim control over the House in this fall’s election after losing to the GOP two years ago. New York, a reliably blue state, lost four seats that year, with Hochul at the top of the ticket.
But the Siena survey, reported in POLITICOPro by our Bill Mahoney, showed Hochul in dire straits politically. Trump, who trailed Kamala Harris by 13 points, was viewed favorably by 39 percent of New York’s likely voters. Just 34 percent of the same respondents viewed Kathy Hochul favorably. She just barely beat out Trump’s unusually unpopular running mate Sen. JD Vance, who was viewed favorably by only 33 percent of New Yorkers in the poll. The record-low favorability numbers come after Hochul spent the past year fundraising and organizing the state’s party apparatus to ensure down-ballot Democrats take back the House and win the state’s battleground congressional districts.
She’s largely done that work from behind the scenes. No congressional or downstate candidate has received her endorsement, and any stops she’s made on the campaign trail have been hidden from reporters and the general public. Still, she’s massively grown the state’s party apparatus to a size comparable to one of a presidential campaign in a swing state, and she’s asked donors to spend money on down-ballot Democrats instead of herself. Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, in a tight race against former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones in one of those battleground seats, noted Hochul’s unpublicized visit to Tarrytown where she appeared alongside Jones. The press was never informed of the appearance. “She just came to my district this past weekend with no fanfare or announcement or advisory, because she's deeply unpopular,” Lawler said. “I mean, I welcome her to my district. I hope she comes every day between now and the election.” Still when it comes to unfavorability, Hochul led Trump. By a margin of three points, more people viewed the former president unfavorably than the governor. “She's barely above where Eric Adams is right now, and Eric has had a year of bad headlines because of multiple federal investigations,” said one Democratic operative who has supported her in the past, but has grown frustrated with her. “There's no sugar coating, the numbers are complete and utter disaster.” — Jason Beeferman
| 
