Gov. Kathy Hochul is still ahead of her likely Republican opponent in next year’s gubernatorial election, but that lead is narrower than it was at the start of the summer, a new Siena poll found.

Forty-five percent of the registered voters surveyed said they’d back Hochul, giving the incumbent Democrat a 14-point lead over GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik. A June poll from Siena gave Hochul a comfortable 23-point lead over Stefanik, who is not officially running yet, but said last spring that she was “ strongly considering ” a bid for the governor’s mansion.

Independent voters were “closely divided” but leaned toward Stefanik after backing Hochul in June.

Stefanik’s gains can mostly be explained by the fact that “Republicans, not surprisingly, came home,” according to Siena pollster Steve Gr

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