New York state Gov. Kathy Hochul appears to be up to the challenge when it comes to potential opponents.

Hochul – whose favorability, job approval, and generic re-elect numbers are little changed from last month – leads each of three potential Republican 2026 gubernatorial candidates by at least 20 points, according to a new Siena College Poll of New York state registered voters released this week. Hochul leads Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman 44-19%; she leads Rep. Elise Stefanik 47-24%; and she leads Repr. Mike Lawler 44-24%.

One year out from potential gubernatorial primaries, Democrats overwhelmingly favor Hochul (49%) over Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado (12%) and Representative Ritchie Torres (10%) – little changed from May – and Republicans strongly favor Stefanik (35%) over Lawler (18%) and Blakeman (7%), also similar to last month. New Yorkers support allowing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to a terminally ill patient that they could take on their own to end their own life, 54-28%, little changed from 58-30% in November 2023, when Siena last asked.

“Recognizing that 16 months in politics is many lifetimes away, a first look at how New York voters feel about potential gubernatorial matchups shows that partisanship wins out. Hochul leads Lawler by 20 points, Stefanik by 23 points and Blakeman by 25 points,” Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy said.

“Unsurprisingly, Hochul leads with Democrats in all three potential gubernatorial matchups by between 50 and 60 points, and she trails in all three with Republicans by between 34 and 40 points. She leads with independents by between 7 and 14 points,” Levy said.

“While the early leads seem large, Hochul is not hitting the ‘magic’ 51% mark against any of these opponents, and in each matchup, between a quarter and a third of voters wasn’t able to choose between the two candidates,” Levy said.

Hochul’s favorability rating is 42-47%, down slightly from 44-46% in May. Her job approval rating is 50-45%, barely changed from 50-46% last month. Currently, 37% are prepared to re-elect Hochul, while 55% want ‘someone else,’ little changed from 36-55% last month. Stefanik has a 25-32% favorability rating (25-35% last month), while Lawler’s is 22-24% (from 22-25%) and Blakeman’s is 16-17% (from 17-16%). Delgado has a 24-18% favorability rating (from 25-18%) and Torres has a 22-18% favorability rating (from 22-20%).

“One year out from a potential primary, two in five Republicans don’t know who they’ll support among Stefanik, Lawler and Blakeman, but Stefanik maintains an early lead, 17 points ahead of Lawler, who is 11 points ahead of Blakeman,” Levy said. “On the Democratic side, Hochul has huge leads of 37 points over Delgado and 39 points over Torres, each of whom remains largely unknown to more than half of Democrats.”