A slim majority of New York voters would prefer someone else as governor rather than reelect Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, while her favorability and job approval ratings have changed little, according to a Siena College poll released Tuesday.

According to the poll, 36% of voters are prepared to elect Hochul to a second full term in 2026 while 55% want “someone else,” a net 10-point negative movement from April. That said, the poll found voters approve of the job Hochul is doing as governor 50-46%, up slightly from 48-45% last month. Her favorability rating stands at 44-46%, where it was 44-43% in April.

“After hitting year-long highs in both Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings last month, those numbers largely held constant this month, although Republicans, already very negative toward Hochul, turned even more so on both measurements,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. “And even more Republicans – 82% up from 68% last month – and independents – 64% up from 55% – prefer ‘someone else’ to be the next governor, while a small majority of Democrats, 51%, say they are prepared to reelect her.”

The governor still holds a commanding lead over potential Democratic challengers, the poll found, with 46% of Democrats backing Hochul compared to 12% for Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and 10% for U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres. Neither individual has declared a candidacy for the state’s chief executive.

“Two potential Hochul rivals for the Democratic nomination for governor next year – Delgado and Torres – remain largely unknown to a majority of voters and a majority of Democrats,” Greenberg said. “Not surprisingly, they both continue to trail Hochul by a large margin – and by virtually every demographic – when Democrats are asked to choose next year’s gubernatorial nominee.”

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s potential candidacy leads other hypotheticals with 35%. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler receives 22% and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman gets 11%. Lawler has said for some time he was considering a gubernatorial run while Stefanik recently expressed interest after she was dropped from her nomination to be the next ambassador to the United Nations.

“When asking Republicans who they want to see as their gubernatorial nominee next year, Stefanik is their early frontrunner, with a small double-digit lead over her downstate colleague, Lawler, and Blakeman, with barely double-digit support, trailing badly. When Stefanik was not included last month, Blakeman had a narrow 6-point lead over Lawler,” Greenberg said. “While Lawler and Blakeman both have virtually break-even favorability ratings, they are both unknown to a majority of voters and Republicans. Stefanik, more well known, has a negative overall favorability rating, 25-35%, but a two-to-one, 45-22%, favorability rating with Republicans.”

When it comes to the newly passed state budget, voters appeared cautiously optimistic that it will help make New York more affordable, the poll found, with 37% saying the inflation rebate checks, middle class tax cut and free public school meals will help somewhat, 26% saying not very much and 17% saying not at all.

A little more than one-third of voters say the budget makes life better for New Yorkers and a little more than one-third say it doesn’t address New Yorkers’ real needs.

“Three budget measures enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support. Making it easier for consumers to cancel subscriptions has support from more than three-quarters of Democrats, Republicans and independents. Providing free meals to all public school students is supported by nearly two-thirds of Republicans, nearly three-quarters of independents and more than nine in ten Democrats. And restricting K-12 students’ smartphone use during the school day has the support of 66% of Democrats, 67% of independents and 68% of Republicans,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg said pluralities of Democrats and Republicans support giving the governor mid-year budget-cutting powers, and a majority of Democrats support the governor’s inflation rebate checks.

As school districts vote on budgets this week, the poll asked voters about their views on transgender girls and their participation in school sports. A strong plurality, 46%, say all school districts should ban transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams, while 22% say all districts should allow them and 23% say the decision should be left up to each individual school district.

“Democrats are closely divided on the question of transgender girls playing on girls school sports teams – 32% want it banned in all districts and 31% want it allowed in all districts – while 68% of Republicans and 54% of independents say transgender girls should be banned from playing on girls school sports teams,” Greenberg said. “While there is no gender gap on this issue, there is a difference based on age, as voters under 35 are closely divided, and 54% of voters 55 and older say it should be banned.”

On the federal level, President Donald Trump’s favorability rating in New York stands at 38-59%, down from 40-55% in April, the poll found, and his overall job approval stands at 40-57%, down a little.

“Trump is viewed favorably by 79% of Republicans, while 82% of Democrats view him unfavorably, as do independents by a narrow 45-50% margin,” Greenberg said. “Similarly, 81% of Democrats disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, while 82% of Republicans approve, and independents are closely divided.”

Voters are now also closely divided on whether congestion pricing should remain because it’s working, as Gov. Hochul says, or it should be eliminated because it’s an unfair tax, as President Trump says. Currently, 39% want it to remain and 41% want it eliminated. In March, it was 33-40%. But by a 46-36% margin, voters say Hochul is right to continue to fight the feds on congestion pricing, the poll found.

Also, a plurality of voters continues to believe that New York should support the federal government’s efforts to deport individuals lacking legal status who are living in New York by a 45-38% margin, down from 48-31% in February, and 54-35% last December.

The poll was conducted from May 12-15 among 805 registered voters in New York and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage points.