Poll shows Hochul and Zeldin leading in gubernatorial primary

An Emerson College poll released Monday shows Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Lee Zeldin have a sizeable lead in their respective gubernatorial primary ahead of the June 28 election.

The new poll comes just hours before the first televised debate between the four Republican gubernatorial candidates, which will air Monday night at 7 p.m. on CBS2.

Just over a third of “highly likely” GOP voters support Zeldin (R-Long Island), compared to 16% for former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, 15% for businessman Harry Wilson and 13% for former aide to the White House, Andrew Giuliani.

“Zeldin’s support in the primary is strongest among suburban voters, while Giuliani is strongest among city voters with 25% of voters. Among rural voters, Zeldin leads with 29%, followed by Wilson with 23%,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, in a press release.

The poll is the latest to show Zeldin, who has the official support of the state Republican Party, has a clear lead over his opponents, although a Zogby poll in May showed him trailing Giuliani by single digits.

However, the GOP race still appears to be up in the air as early voting begins on June 18th.

Hochul has a 40-point lead over Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau) – who is backed by 17% of the poll’s Democratic respondents, compared to public advocate Jumaane Williams, who had 6%.

She’s topped every poll of the primary campaign, amassing a huge war chest in the process compared to Suozzi and Williams, who narrowly lost to her in the 2018 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

“While Hochul enjoys majority support among all voters over 30, support for the governor is weakest among 18- to 29-year-old Democratic primary voters, with 29% planning to support her in the primary,” Kimball said in the release.

According to the poll, her job approval rating is 59% among Democratic primary voters and just 16% among her GOP counterparts.

The poll – which had an error rate of +/- 4.3% – also found that a large majority of both parties ranked gun violence as the main issue in the election campaign.