A new poll shows New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Republican challenger cutting her lead down to single digits, after previous polls showed her leading by double digits.
Over the weekend, a joint poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group and InsiderAdvantage was published, showing Hochul below 50% in the upcoming gubernatorial election, with 47.8% of the vote.
Hochul’s Republican opponent, Congressman Lee Zeldin (NY-1) received 43.4% of the vote in the poll, 4.4 points behind the incumbent.
The poll marks a massive reversal for Hochul, cutting her lead of 24 points in a WNYT-TV Albany/Survey USA poll released in late August, which showed her defeating Zeldin handedly, 55% to 31%.
An Emerson poll from the end of July showed Hochul with a slightly narrow lead of 16 points, with 51% to Zeldin’s 35%.
Andrew Cuomo won the 2018 gubernatorial election by a margin of 23.4 points, but resigned last year amid allegations of sexual harassment, with then-Lieutenant Governor Hochul stepping in to serve the remainder of Cuomo’s term.
Chief Trafaglar pollster Roberet Cahaly hinted that the Biden administration’s student loans forgiveness plan appears to have bolstered Republican candidates across the country, including in traditionally deep blue states like New York.
“Folks I know the GA, WA, & NY poll numbers are surprising but we at Trafalgar Group have seen a big shift in favor of non incumbents since #Biden announced his #studentloanforgiveness package,” Cahaly tweeted. “No other issue this cycle has enraged middle and working class voters more than this.”