Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are emerging as the top two candidates in this summer’s Democratic mayoral primary — and it’s Cuomo’s race to lose, according to three polls released this week.
The latest poll, dropped late Wednesday and conducted by Emerson College, PIX11 and The Hill, found 38% of registered Democrats in New York City would vote in the June 24 primary for Cuomo, who has cast himself as a political moderate since launching his mayoral bid on March 1.
The runner-up in the polls to Cuomo — who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations he denies — is Mamdani, a democratic socialist, who clinched 10% in the Emerson/PIX11/The Hill survey.
Coming in third was the incumbent, Mayor Adams, with 8%.
Adams’ reelection bid has been upended by his federal corruption indictment, surrounding scandals and historically low approval ratings. As a growing number of prominent 2021 campaign supporters have defected to rally behind Cuomo, Adams isn’t ruling out running as an independent in November’s general mayoral election in addition to the Democratic primary.
“Cuomo has emerged as the top candidate in the race, with no clear alternative emerging among Democratic voters,” said Spencer Kimball, Emerson College Polling’s executive director.
The Emerson/PIX11/The Hill poll came after Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank, earlier in the day dropped another survey showing a similar trend, with Cuomo in the lead at 39% support and Mamdani in the No. 2 slot at 15%. The other candidates in the race, including Adams, didn’t rise above single digits in the Data for Progress analysis.
That, in turn, came after Honan Strategy Group released another mayoral race poll Tuesday that found Cuomo topping the field with 41% support, and Mamdani again the runner-up at 18%.
All three polls reported that more than 15% of the New Yorkers quizzed consider themselves “undecided,” indicating much could still change as the primary looms less than three months away.
While the Emerson survey found Adams in the No. 3 slot, the Honan Strategy and Data for Progress polls projected Comptroller Brad Lander as the third place candidate, locking in 8% in both.
The projections of Cuomo and Mamdani as front-runners come even as they’re positioning themselves on the diametrically opposite ends of the Democratic Party spectrum.
A socialist, Mamdani has said he would as mayor freeze rents on all stabilized tenants in the city, make bus service free and drastically increase funding for universal childcare. Cuomo, a moderate, has centered his campaign around a pledge to bring the city back from the brink of what he has portrayed as a public safety “crisis,” pledging to hire more cops and focus on quality-of-life issues.
Notably, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, whose late entry into the mayoral race this month garnered much buzz from the political class, isn’t registering much support in the latest polls. In the Emerson and Honan Strategy surveys, Speaker Adams netted just 4% support, while Data for Progress gave her 5%.
