By Hank Russell
Almost eight in 10 New Yorkers — including a majority of Democrats — support President Donald Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants who have criminal records, according to a recent poll.
According to the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI), 79% of Empire State residents said undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime should be deported, while 11% disagreed. By political party, this included 69% of Democrats, 91% of Republicans and 86% of independents who backed this measure.
But when it came to removing those who came in illegally, but did not have a criminal record, not as many were supportive. Only 39% wanted to see them deported, compared to 42% who did not.
On other issues regarding illegal immigration, 59% agreed the state should not use Medicaid to pay for healthcare for undocumented immigrants, and 26% said they should receive free healthcare. When asked if New York State should support the federal government’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants, voters were in favor 48%-31%. Despite the support, that was down 54%-35% in December.
Voters were then asked on their views of Governor Kathy Hochul and Trump. Only 39% viewed Hochul favorably and 44% approve of her job performance. “Currently, 57% of voters — including 41% of Democrats — would prefer ‘someone else’ as their next governor,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. “Never once have a majority of voters viewed Hochul favorably, and at present, only 55% of Democrats view her favorably.”
Trump’s favorability rating ticked up to 41% — his best ever. That is up from 37% in December. In addition, it is the fourth time since May 2024 that Trump had a higher favorability rating than Hochul. “Currently, Republicans view [Trump] favorably, 83%-13%, while Democrats view him unfavorably, 17%-81%,” Greenberg said. “Independents are in the middle, 48%-46%.”
The only positive spot for Hochul was that New Yorkers supported eight of her 10 proposals, including providing free breakfast and lunch to every public school student in New York (77%), ensuring the presence of a uniformed police officer on every New York City subway train between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. for the next six months (71%), increasing the average child tax credit from $472 to $943, budgeted at $825 million (63%) and requiring all school districts to restrict smartphone use by students in K-12 schools throughout the entire school day (62%).
When asked which direction New York State is going, 50% said the state is heading in the wrong direction, while 36% said it is going in the right direction. That is unchanged from December.