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ALBANY — Support for Vice President Kamala Harris grew in New York over the past several weeks and more voters now say they’ll support an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot next month, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released Tuesday.
It’s not a surprise that Harris would have more support in New York than former President Donald J. Trump, but she’s now opened up a 19-point lead in the race for president.
That’s a significant change from June, when President Joseph R. Biden was polling within single digits of Trump — 8 points — when he was still his party’s nominee. It’s also higher than last month, when Harris held a 13-point lead over Trump in New York.
“The increase in Harris’ lead comes from Black, white and Latino voters, as well as younger and middle-aged voters,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
Support for Harris rose from each of those groups compared to last month. The largest increase — 9 points — was a tie between Black voters and the 18 to 34 age group. Only 4 percent of Black voters said they support Trump.
But Trump also lost a significant amount of support from independent voters, those who don’t register with a party. Last month’s poll found that 58 percent of independent voters supported Trump. This month, it’s 47 percent.
Voters also have more confidence in Harris to support key issues on the table in this year’s election, the poll found.
The only other statewide race on the ballot is between U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, and Mike Sapraicone, a Republican. Gillibrand has support from 57 percent of voters versus 31 percent for her opponent.
Support for Proposition 1 grows
Independent voters were also partly responsible for a five-point increase this month for Proposition 1, a proposal on the ballot in New York this year.
That proposal — also called the Equal Rights Amendment — would add several new groups to the part of the state constitution that prohibits discrimination. Right now, the constitution only bars discrimination based on race, color, creed and religion.
It now has support from 69 percent of voters, the poll found, compared to 64 percent in September.
While Republicans have voiced opposition to the proposal, the poll found more support from conservative voters in October — 36 percent — than last month, when 28 percent of conservatives said they would vote for it.
The poll found more support from several other groups as well, including a 13-point bump among independents, an 18-point bump among Jewish voters and there was a 12-point increase from voters in the suburbs.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s a major proponent of the proposal, saw a rise in her numbers as well, albeit by not as much. Her favorability and job approval both went up by two points to 36 and 41 percent, respectively.
“The good news for Hochul is that both her favorability and job approval ratings are up a little,” Greenberg said. “The bad news is that they’re up from all-time lows and have a ways to go before reaching positive territory.”
