Democratic socialist assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has come within striking distance of Andrew Cuomo in newly released polling for the upcoming New York City mayoral election, with the breakout candidate being within a margin of error of triumphing over the disgraced governor in a head-to-head primary race.
A Data for Progress survey of likely Democratic primary voters found that Mamdani is just seven points behind Cuomo in the first round of New York City’s ranked choice voting system, with other left-leaning candidates like Brad Lander garnering a proportion of higher rankings. Every candidate but Mamdani and Cuomo is in the single digits.
As other candidates are eliminated in subsequent rounds, Cuomo’s lead grows smaller. In the final round, in a head-to-head race between the two, Cuomo leads by just two points, garnering 51 percent of the vote, with Mamdani at 49 percent. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus three points.
Crucially, the poll was conducted between May 30 and June 4 — ending just a day before Mamdani secured the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), who endorsed the left-wing candidate following his skillful performance at the first mayoral debate and said she would rank him first on her primary ballot.
The endorsement from such a high profile politician may have been particularly important, as polls have suggested that one of Mamdani’s largest roadblocks is name recognition over the former governor. A Data for Progress poll conducted in March, for instance, found that Cuomo led Mamdani by 24 points in the first round of voting, while a faceoff between the two would have Cuomo winning by 70 percent to Mamdani’s 30 percent.
But, due in part to a massive canvassing campaign for Mamdani and his often-viral social media videos, Mamdani has been surging in recognition and popularity. His policy platform of making New York City more affordable with proposals like a citywide rent freeze for rent stabilized apartments stands, for young voters especially, in sharp contrast to Cuomo — a Democratic establishment candidate who is well-known, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, Data for Progress’s latest polling suggests that Mamdani has even more room to grow in terms of name recognition and popularity.
According to the survey, 28 percent of respondents said they had not heard enough about Mamdani to form an opinion. Well over half, or 58 percent, said they had a favorable opinion of him, versus only 15 percent who said they had an unfavorable view — a 43-point gap.
On the other hand, the polling found that voters have a net unfavorable opinion of Cuomo, with 48 percent saying they favor him while 4 percent said they view him unfavorably.
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