ALBANY – More than 40% of New Yorkers support deporting people who are in the United States illegally – but overwhelmingly are souring on the Trump administration’s tactics and ICE operations in Minneapolis, a new poll shows.
A massive 61% of respondents told Siena University pollsters they disagreed with how ICE was operating amid the surge in Minneapolis – including 81% of Democrats and 54% of Independents – while 61% of Republicans supported the immigration agency’s tactics.
Suburban voters in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Orange and Putnam Counties have also largely soured on the immigration enforcement agency’s operation, with 61% opposed.
However, 43% of voters supported deporting migrants who are in the UUS illegally, versus 35% against deportations and 20% “in the middle,” roughly the same as when Siena asked the question in May.
“Republicans view ICE favorably, support the way they are working and nearly three-quarters want additional ICE agents sent to New York City. Democrats and independents say exactly the opposite: unfavorable to ICE, don’t like the way they work, and don’t want more of them in the Big Apple,” Siena Poll Spokesperson Steve Greenberg wrote in a statement.
A massive 80% of Siena’s respondents said they support deporting migrants with a criminal background in a poll about a year ago, including 71% of Latinos.
The poll, conducted last week, also shows the highest ever favorability for Gov. Kathy Hochul — at 49%. With 40% of respondents rating her unfavorably in the latest poll, she has a net favorability rating of +9%.
It’s the first time she’s posted back-to-back months of above-water net favorability ratings in Siena’s poll since December 2022 and January 2023 – just off her first election since taking over as governor following the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021.
“While a 49-40% favorability rating is not generally seen as something to gloat about, for Hochul it is a net seven point gain from December, but more noteworthy is the fact that it is the first time in four and a half years as governor that Hochul has had 49% of voters view her favorably in a Siena poll,” Greenberg said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is still largely unknown statewide, with 60% of those surveyed saying they don’t know the likely GOP challenger to Hochul.
Blakeman gets walloped by the incumbent Democrat 54% to 28% in a head-to-head matchup. The Long Island pol also lags 14% behind Hochul – 50% to 36% – in the suburbs, according to the survey.
A majority of voters, 51%, did, however, tell Siena they would rather someone other than Hochul be governor, with only 42% saying they’d vote to re-elect the New York leader.
“Ten months from election day, Blakeman – largely unknown to three in five New York voters – has his work cut out for him. Hochul’s 79-8% lead among Democrats is significantly better than Blakeman’s 69-15% lead with Republicans, and she leads 41-34% with independents, as well as in every region of the state,” Greenberg said.
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who is waging a primary challenge against Hochul to the left, is also unknown to 61% of those surveyed. As such, he gets obliterated in a head-to-head matchup with Hochul, 64% to 11%.