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With less than a week until Election Day, Zohran Mamdani holds a double-digit, 10-point lead in the race for the nation’s most populous city, but former Gov. Andrew Cuomo keeps narrowing the gap, according to the latest public polling.
Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from the New York City borough of Queens, who shocked the political world in June with his convincing win over Cuomo and nine other candidates to capture the Democratic Party’s mayoral nomination, stands at 43% support among likely voters, according to a survey released Wednesday from Quinnipiac University.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who is running as an independent candidate in the general election after losing the primary, had 33% support in the survey.
The survey was conducted Thursday to Monday, after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Cuomo in a bid to defeat Mamdani. The embattled Democratic mayor had been running for re-election as an Independent but dropped out of the race late last month, although his name remains on the ballot.
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Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee in the Democratic-dominated city, stood at 14% in the poll. According to Quinnipiac University, 6% of likely voters are undecided and 3% refused to respond.
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“Make no mistake: The race is tightening, and Andrew Cuomo is closing in fast,” Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement.
Mamdani’s 10-point advantage over Cuomo is down from his 13-point lead in Quinnipiac’s previous poll, which was conducted at the beginning of October. And this latest poll matches the Suffolk University poll released Monday that similarly found Mamdani losing ground with a now 10-point lead.
“This is the second poll in a week showing Zohran Mamdani stuck below 45 percent of the vote — despite a lack of scrutiny and glowing press coverage — and Andrew Cuomo gaining,” Azzopardi said, while adding that Mamdani is “stuck in the mud.”
“The momentum is with Andrew Cuomo — and it’s only growing every day,” Cuomo’s campaign said.
Cuomo has turned up the volume on his criticisms of Mamdani during the closing stretch of the campaign, with dire warnings that “mayhem” would follow a Mamdani victory in the mayoral election.
When asked by Fox News’s Alexis McAdams if Mamdani thinks he “has it in the bag,” Mamdani said on Monday that he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“If you want to take something for granted, that’s what Andrew Cuomo did in the primary. We don’t want to end up like Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani said.
Meanwhile, Sliwa, a longtime fixture in New York City politics, has been the target of a pressure campaign to drop out of the race to set up a one-on-one matchup between Cuomo and Mamdani, in a frantic effort to avert a Mamdani victory.
Among those urging Sliwa to end his bid is billionaire businessman and conservative radio host John Catsimatidis, a top New York City Republican and ally of President Donald Trump.
The Ugandan-born Mamdani, if elected, would become the first Muslim and first Millennial mayor in New York City’s history.
Mamdani surged to the Democratic primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City’s high cost of living. It was fueled by a grassroots army of supporters and backing from top national progressive champions, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
The 34-year-old made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering free childcare for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.
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Mamdani has been heavily criticized by his rivals not only for his far-left proposals, but also for his criticism of Israel, his past negative comments regarding the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and his proposal to shift certain responsibilities away from the NYPD and focus on social services and community-based programs.
The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request.
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