Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin is closing in on incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York’s tightening gubernatorial race, a poll released Saturday found.
The survey, conducted by the independent Trafalgar Group, found Hochul with just a 4 percent lead over the Long Island congressman — a significant narrowing in a race that has seen Hochul with a lead of up to 24 points.
The poll of 1,091 likely general election voters, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, pegged Hochul at 47.8% — and Zeldin, at 43.4%, nipping at the Democrat’s heels.
That put the governor’s lead outside the poll’s 2.9% margin of error — but not by much.
An additional 2.7% of respondents said they support Libertarian Larry Sharpe, with 6.7% undecided.
The race’s last poll, released Aug. 23 and conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of WNYT-TV in Albany, found Hochul with an overwhelming 55% support, compared to 31% for Zeldin and 14% undecided.
“I know the… numbers are surprising,” Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group tweeted Saturday.
“But we at Trafalgar Group have seen a big shift in favor of non incumbents since Biden announced his #studentloanforgiveness package,” Cahaly continued. “No other issue this cycle has enraged middle and working class voters more than this.”
