New York voters down on Democrats over migrant crisis, poll finds

ALBANY, N.Y. — Top New York Democrats remain mired in mediocre poll numbers as voters negatively viewed their handling of the surge of migrants to the state, a new poll Tuesday found.

The figures from the Siena College Research Institute is the latest troubling sign for Democrats, including President Joe Biden, as the influx of asylum-seekers has rose to about 100,000 in New York City and has touched every part of the state.

“New Yorkers — including huge majorities of Democrats, Republicans, independents, upstaters and downstaters — overwhelmingly say that the recent influx of migrants to New York is a serious problem for the state,” poll spokesperson Steven Greenberg said in a statement.

By a 46 percent to 32 percent margin, voters said that migrants resettling in New York over the last 20 or so years has been a “burden,” not a “benefit” to the state. And by 58 percent to 36 percent, voters said New Yorkers have already done enough and should try to slow the flow of them.

Voters disapproved of the job that Gov. Kathy Hochul is doing to address the influx by a 51 percent to 35 percent margin, and they didn’t support the handling of the situation by Mayor Eric Adams by 47 percent to 31 percent.

The poll comes as Adams and Hochul have urged the White House to help New York with more aid and to expedite working papers for the asylum-seekers. And the two Democrats have taken pains to avoid any public squabbling as court documents recently suggested the state is frustrated with the city's response.

It’s difficult to point to the influx as the cause of the sagging in the polls, since most top Democrats’ numbers remained statistically unchanged from before the migrant boom started. For Hochul, her latest numbers were consistent with recent Siena polls, but did drop slightly to a new low.

Still, it’s a sign of potential future problems as Republicans gear up to make the matter a top campaign issue heading into the 2024 elections for state legislative and congressional seats.

Overall, Hochul was viewed favorably by 40 percent of voters and unfavorably by 46 percent. Adams' favorability was 29 percent to 37 percent statewide, essentially unchanged in recent months, but he was still in positive territory in the city: 45 percent to 42 percent, the poll showed.

Perhaps the most troubling finding for Democrats was that fewer than 50 percent of New Yorkers in the solidly-blue state would vote for President Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup against former President Donald Trump.

Biden still led Trump 47 percent to 34 percent. But that 13-point lead was among the lowest in recent memory for a leading Democratic presidential candidate in New York: In 2020, Biden’s edge never dipped below 25 points after it became clear he would win the Democratic nomination.

“For the first time in a Siena College poll, more New Yorkers now view Biden unfavorably, 50 percent, than view him favorably, 46 percent,” Greenberg said.

Only 47 percent of Democrats said they think their party should renominate Biden, while 46 percent preferred somebody else. That’s down from 54 percent wanting his renomination in June, and up 43 percent in March.

On the migrant issue, respondents of every demographic overwhelmingly viewed the influx as a serious problem. Even among the one category that was the least concerned, self-identified liberals, 29 percent viewed it as “very serious” and 39 percent as “somewhat serious.”

Still, New Yorkers supported the transfer of migrants from New York City to other parts of the state by a margin of 50 percent to 40 percent — a move by Adams that has angered local leaders. But that positive showing was driven by a supportive response from the city, where 62 percent of registered voters supported the relocation.

Siena polled 803 registered voters from Aug. 13-16. The poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.