Trump failing to make life more affordable, Americans feel safer, Siena Poll says

ALBANY — New York voters overwhelmingly say President Donald Trump isn’t succeeding in making "everyday necessities" more affordable, ensuring Americans feel safer and improving the U.S. standing around the world, according to a new poll by the Siena Research Institute at Siena University.

In addition, the poll, released Tuesday, gives Assemb. Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria) a big lead in the New York mayoral election.

Though Republicans in New York say Trump is doing fine, Democrats, independents and minor party candidates say he is failing on every issue Siena polled. And with Republicans accounting for 22% of registered voters in New York, his high ratings within the GOP aren't enough to prevent an overall low score.

Overall, by a 63%-23% mark, those surveyed said Trump is failing at making "everyday necessities" such as like food, housing and energy more affordable.

By a 54%-33% count, New Yorkers said Trump isn’t succeeding at making Americans feel safer in their everyday lives. By a 55%-34% difference, they said Trump isn’t protecting the rights of all Americans. By a 61%-27% count, they said he isn’t succeeding at ending wars around the world.

And by a 57%-33% score, they said Trump isn’t succeeding at improving the U.S. standing in the world.

"Overwhelming majorities of Democrats and independents say Trump is not succeeding making necessities more affordable and ending wars around the world," said Steve Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena Poll, in a statement.

Among Republicans, more than two-thirds think Trump is doing well at "improving America's standing in the world, protecting the rights of all Americans, and ensuring Americans feel safer," Greenberg said.

Trump's job approval rating among New Yorkers improved slightly — with 41% approving and 58% disapproving — from June, when 39% of respondents said they approved and 59% disapproved, according to the poll.

Siena conducted the poll Aug. 4-7, among 813 registered voters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, meaning the answers to each question could vary by that amount.

Among the 813, about 320 were New York City residents. Siena didn’t conduct a stand-alone poll on the city’s mayoral race, but said city residents in the statewide poll give Mamdani a huge lead over former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other contenders in the mayoral race.

According to Siena, Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary in June, garnered support from 44% of those surveyed compared with 25% for Cuomo, 12% for Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and 7% for incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent.

Notably, Mamdani is the lone candidate viewed more favorably than unfavorably (46%-32%), according to Siena.

One category favorable to Cuomo is voters who are 55 and older, where he has a 38%-32% lead over Mamdani. Cuomo also leads among Black voters, 40%-32%.

Mamdani leads in most other categories and has an especially striking advantage among voters 34 and younger, where he leads Cuomo, 61%-13%.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy