April 15, 2025
The State of New York, April 2025
Hochul Approval Rating at 39% in NY... Majority Do Not Want Gov. to Seek Re-election
New Yorkers’ opinions of Governor Kathy Hochul are, at best, lukewarm. Hochul’s approval rating is upside down; a majority of New Yorkers think she is not a good leader for the state, and nearly six in ten do not want Hochul to run for re-election next year. Perceptions of Hochul exist within a pessimistic atmosphere. New Yorkers think the quality of life in New York is on a decline. Majorities perceive the state to be unaffordable and oppose congestion pricing. Plus, many voters say New York’s economy is deteriorating, and more than one in three expect their family finances to get worse in the coming year.
39% of New Yorkers approve of the the job Hochul is doing as governor, unchanged from April of 2024. 46% disapprove, notched up slightly from 42%. 16% are unsure. Only 13% of New Yorkers report they strongly approve of how Hochul is doing her job compared with 31% who strongly disapprove.
When asked a different way, 35% of residents statewide think Hochul is doing either an excellent (9%) or good (26%) job in office. 56% think rate her performance as fair (19%) or poor (37%). Nine percent are unsure.
A majority of New Yorkers (53%), including 33% of Democrats, do not think Hochul is a good leader for the state. 46% believe she is. Perceptions of Hochul have changed since October of 2021 when 56% said the governor was a good leader for New York.
57% of residents statewide do not want Hochul to run for re-election in 2026. Included here are 40% of Democrats. Four in ten New Yorkers, overall, do want Hochul to run for re-election next year.
A slim majority of New Yorkers (51%), including 85% of Republicans and 63% of non-enrolled voters, want Hochul to compromise to find common ground with President Donald Trump. 48% of residents statewide, including 70% of Democrats, want the governor to oppose President Trump as much as possible.
Majority Perceives NYS Quality of Life to Have Gotten Worse
55% of New Yorkers think the quality of life in the Empire State has gotten worse. 10% think it has gotten better, and 34% say it has stayed the same. Included here are 20% who believe the quality of life has stayed the same, which is good thing, and 12% who say things are status quo, which is a negative. Compared with April of 2024, fewer residents believe the conditions in New York State are improving. At that time, 16% had this view while 52% said the quality of life statewide was getting worse. 32% thought it had remained the same.
More NY Voters Say State’s Economy is Deteriorating
64% of adults statewide, and the same proportion of registered voters in the state, say New York’s economy is getting worse. This is up sharply from 51% of voters in April of 2024. Only nine percent believe it is getting better, and 27% say it has stayed about the same. Regardless of where in the state residents live, at least six in ten believe the state’s economy has taken a turn for the worse.
Little More Than One in Four Expect Their Personal Finances to Improve
27% of New York residents expect their personal family finances will get better in the coming year, 36% think they will get worse, and 37% say they will stay the same. Among registered voters, only 26% think their personal family finances will improve in the coming year. 36%, up from 30% last year, say they will get worse, and 38% believe their personal financial picture will stay about the same. The statewide electorate has become more pessimistic about their personal family finances. In April of 2024, 28% of voters thought their personal finances would get better, and 42% said they would remain steady.
More Than Eight in Ten New Yorkers Think Cost of NY Living is Unaffordable
82% if New Yorkers report the cost of living in New York is not very affordable or not affordable at all. 18%, in contrast, say it is very affordable or affordable.
Nearly Six in Ten Oppose Congestion Pricing
58% of New York residents think congestion pricing should be eliminated because it is an unfair tax on working commuters. 38% say it should remain because it is working to reduce traffic and to raise revenue for the MTA. Opposition is consistent, regardless of region in the state.
Moving Out? More Than Three in Ten Say They Plan to Leave NY
32% of New Yorkers say they plan to leave New York within the next five years. However, that is a slight decline from last year when 37% reported that expected to move out of the state. 65% of New Yorkers currently plan to stay, compared with 61% last year. Of those who plan to leave New York, six in ten say their decision is due to economic reasons.
Overall, reasons given for New Yorkers’ planned exodus include:
- Cost of Living: 39%
- Quality of Life: 26%
- Taxes: 16%
- Politics: 6%
- Jobs: 6%
- Weather: 5%
- Retirement: 3%
Re-Direct: Six in Ten Say NY is Moving in the Wrong Direction
60% of New Yorkers think the state is moving in the wrong direction, including 59% of registered voters. 39% say it is moving in the right one, and 2% are unsure. New York voters’ opinions of the state’s trajectory are little changed since last year.
Schumer’s Approval Rating Drops
34% of registered voters statewide think Senator Chuck Schumer is doing either an excellent (13%) or good (21%) job in office. 56%, though, give Schumer fair (20%) or poor (36%) marks. 10% are unsure.
When last reported in 2021, Schumer’s approval rating stood at 41% with 15% rating him excellently and 26% giving him a good review. 55%, at that time, thought his performance was fair (28%) or poor (27%).
Majority Calls for Schumer to be Replaced as Senate Minority Leader
53% of New Yorkers think another Democrat should replace Schumer as minority leader in the U.S. Senate. 45% think Schumer should remain in his post. Democrats divide. 50% think Schumer should retain his position while 48% believe it is time for him to pass the torch.
More Unsure About Gillibrand
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s job approval rating remains upside down, yet her negatives have declined. More New Yorkers are unsure how to rate her performance in office.
Looking at Gillibrand’s job performance 36% of registered voters think she is doing either an excellent (13%) or good (23%) job in office. 42% rate her performance as either fair (20%) or poor (22%), down from 49% in 2021. However, 22% are unsure how to rate her, up from 13% previously.
Methodology
This survey of 1,204 New York State adults was conducted April 3rd through April 9th, 2025 by the Marist Poll. Adults 18 years of age and older residing in the state of New York were contacted through a multi-mode design: By phone using live interviewers, by text, or online. Results for all adults (n=1,204) are statistically significant within ±3.5 percentage points. Results for registered voters (n=1,116) are statistically significant within ±3.6 percentage points.