New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani holds a commanding 25-point lead over his main opponent — former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — less than a week from the election to succeed outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a new poll.
An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey released Thursday shows Mamdani at 50 percent, Cuomo at 25 percent and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at 21 percent. Close to 4 percent say they’re undecided.
When undecideds are factored in, Mamdani’s support grows to 51 percent, while Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, receives 26 percent and Sliwa remains at 21 percent.
If elected Uganda-born Mamdani, 34, who speaks fluent Urdu, will be the first Muslim mayor of this city of over nine million.
His father is academic Mahmood Mamdani and his mother is filmmaker Mira Nair. Mamdani’s family immigrated to South Africa when he was five years old and then to the United States when he was seven, settling in New York City
According to the survey, Mamdani has widened his margin against Cuomo compared to an Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey released in September that found Mamdani leading Cuomo by 15 points.
The latest mayoral poll also shows that Sliwa has substantially increased his support compared to September. In September, while Adams was still in the race, Sliwa received 10 percent support.
Meanwhile, Cuomo has seen a slight decline in support between now and September, when he held 28 percent support.
“Mamdani appears to have built a coalition across key demographics, increasing his margin among Black voters since last month, from 50% to 71%, whereas Cuomo dropped ten points among Black voters since September,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a release.
“Mamdani continues to have a base of young voters; 69% of voters under 50 support him, whereas 37% of voters over 50 support Mamdani, while 31% support Cuomo and 28% Silwa,” he added.
The polling underscores the broader theme of Mamdani’s dominance in the mayoral race, particularly after he beat Cuomo in the primary in June.
By all accounts, Mamdani, who is a New York Assembly member, is widely expected to win Tuesday’s general election to succeed Adams despite last-minute efforts from the incumbent mayor, some Democrats and even some Republicans to coalesce around Cuomo’s candidacy. Cuomo’s campaign has been heavily funded by City’s bilionaires.
