A new Siena College poll looking ahead to 2026 finds many voters in New York haven’t heard of the potential candidates yet.
If the 2026 Democratic primary were held today, Governor Kathy Hochul would win, hands-down. The Siena poll out Monday shows Hochul supported by 46% of Democrats to Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado's 11%. 10% say they would vote for Congressman Richie Torres, while 28% say they don't know who they would support.
Steve Greenberg is with the Siena College Research Institute. "If we look at it, regionally: interesting," said Greenberg. "Among New York City Democrats, Hochul leads 44% there, 9% for Delgado, 11% for Torres. In the downstate suburbs, Hochul has a commanding lead, 56%. 12% for Torres, 7% for Delgado. But among upstate voters, Hochul, 43%. Delgado, 20%. Torres, 6%."
Still, Greenberg says only 40% of New Yorkers view Governor Kathy Hochul favorably, while a majority of 50% view her unfavorably.
“And when we look at the generic reelect, that is, if the election were today, would you vote to reelect Hochul as governor, or would you prefer "someone else?" Only 34% of voters say they prepared to reelect Hochul. 56% say they would prefer someone else. If we look at just Democrats on that question, a bare majority, 51% say they would be prepared to reelect Hochul. But a significant minority, 40% of Democrats say they would prefer someone else,” Greenberg said.
Could Delgado become that "someone else?" The former Hudson Valley Congressman who became Hochul’s second lieutenant governor in 2022 has been distancing himself from her. In February he announced he will not run for re-election in 2026 — and would not rule a run for governor. He issued a statement that says in part "all options are on the table."
Hochul’s office responded by saying Delgado would have been replaced on the ticket anyway and accused him of not wanting to do the job.
Speaking on WCNY’s “Capitol Pressroom,” Delgado said his party has helped to perpetuate "economic inequality" that he says favors big corporations with investments that "don't have a return for taxpayers."
“When we start trying to invest across the board, in public goods, what happens is the folks who are at the super top, the super-rich, the super wealthy, the billionaires, they get the benefit of that. So even though you might be leveling up the bottom, the top is also leveling up. So the economic gap remains, and what else remains? Affordability issues remain. That's the piece we keep missing as Democrats, in particular. We marry ourselves to these market-oriented ideas that are wholly profit driven under the hope that will somehow make its way to the public, and we see time and time again, it just reinforces economic inequality. There's a reason why we are where we are right now. There's a reason why we have an administration in the White House that we have right now, and this is part of it,” said Delgado.
Greenberg says most New Yorkers really don't know Delgado or Torres.
“Delgado, 19% of voters view him favorably, 16% unfavorably, but 65% either never heard of him and don't know enough about him to have an opinion. Comparably, Torres is at 18-15 with 67% having never heard of him or don't know enough about him to have an opinion. They're both a little bit more known with Democrats, but not much. Among Democrats alone, Delgado is at 26-10 compared to Torres’ 27 to 14%.”
Greenberg notes the slate of candidates is likely to change by the time the 2026 primary rolls around.
On the Republican side, asked about a potential primary for governor, voters gave Hudson Valley Congressman Mike Lawler an early edge over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, but they are also largely unknown. The poll has a margin of error of about 4 points.
