Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has reached his worst-ever favorability rating in two decades of polling by Siena College, fueled by the fallout among Democrats over his handling of President Donald Trump.
In the same survey released Tuesday, potential 2028 primary challenger Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) received her highest-ever favorability rating from the popular political polling institution.
Schumer had a 39% favorable rating and a 49% unfavorable compared to Ocasio-Cortez’s 47% favorable rating and 33% unfavorable.
Neither lawmaker responded to a request for comment.
Schumer’s downturn was due to liberal voters souring on the longtime Senate Democratic leader, who unleashed calls for his ouster last month for helping congressional Republicans pass a stopgap government funding measure and averting a shutdown. Schumer has rebuffed assertions he’s out of touch with the base of the party and has become an ineffective leader who’s ill-prepared to take on another Trump term.
“While he continues to be viewed unfavorably by more than two-thirds of Republicans and a majority of independents, Schumer saw his standing with Democrats, particularly liberals, fall dramatically,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.
The poll did not gauge voters’ preferred choice in a head-to-head matchup, but a previous survey this month had Ocasio-Cortez besting Schumer by nearly 20 points. Ocasio-Cortez had her largest-ever quarter of fundraising in the first three months of this year with nearly $10 million, an eye-popping figure that was also buoyed by her tour of the country with left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Democrats’ favorable view of Schumer is 52-38%, down from a previous 68-23%. Among liberals, his favorability is 47-41%, down from a previous 68-21%.
Ocasio-Cortez scored the highest favorability among the New York elected officials polled, including Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY).
The fourth-term progressive bests Hochul and Schumer with a favorability among Democrats of 64%, is viewed unfavorably by 60% of Republicans, and is evenly divided with independents at 39-39%.
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“While Schumer’s fifth term runs through 2028, Ocasio-Cortez has established herself as a New York Democrat to watch,” Greenberg said.
The Siena College poll was conducted April 14-16 among 802 registered New York voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.
