Zohran Mamdani holds a strong 22-point lead over Andrew Cuomo in New York City‘s mayoral race, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
Mamdani received 46% support from likely voters compared to Cuomo’s 24% in the four-man race, the early September poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena University shows. Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams remain far behind the front-runners at 15% and 9%, respectively. Five percent of voters did not choose a candidate to back.
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The survey reaffirms the likelihood that Mamdani will defeat Cuomo once again following the Democratic primary in June, although there may be a silver lining for the former governor.
The Democratic nominee’s 22-point lead shrank to four points, with 48% supporting Mamdani and 44% backing Cuomo, if Sliwa and Adams both drop out of the race. The smaller lead falls just outside the poll’s margin of error. If Adams suspended his campaign and Sliwa kept running, Mamdani would still maintain a comfortable lead against the competition.
The latest poll comes less than two months ahead of the general election. It also comes as President Donald Trump reportedly threatens to intervene in the race to prevent Mamdani, a self-described socialist, from securing an election victory.
Reports recently surfaced claiming Trump wants to clear the field in order to consolidate support for Cuomo’s independent campaign. Trump is said to have contacted Adams and Sliwa about federal positions in exchange for their exit from the city’s race. Trump has denied any such involvement in the local election.
Sliwa and Adams also dismissed the reports about Trump offering them positions in the administration.
Mamdani has taken political advantage of the rumors, claiming Trump is actively supporting Cuomo based on the recent reports. Cuomo denied being Trump’s preferred candidate for mayor, calling the idea “ludicrous” and suggesting Republicans want Mamdani to win for campaign messaging against Democrats in future elections.
“If you’re a Republican, you are praying for Mamdani to win,” Cuomo told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday. “If Mamdani wins, they can use that against the Democrats all across the country. Mamdani wins, they’ll say the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists.”
While the poll doesn’t touch on Trump’s rumored intervention, it does show that more voters support Mamdani over the three other candidates to contend with the Trump administration. Of the respondents answering this question, 36% backed Mamdani and 31% favored Cuomo. Again, Sliwa and Adams were nowhere near the two front-runners.
HOCHUL DODGES ON ENDORSING MAMDANI IN NYC MAYORAL RACE: ‘UP TO THE VOTERS’
Adams is not viewed well among his constituents, partly due to his association with the Trump administration ever since the Department of Justice dropped federal corruption charges against him. Meanwhile, Sliwa is struggling to gain traction in a city where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a 6:1 ratio.
The New York Times/Siena poll surveyed 1,284 likely voters in New York City for five days between Sept. 2 and 6, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.