BURSTFormer New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) holds a wide lead over the rest of the field in both the Democratic primary and a hypothetical general election in the New York City mayoral race, a new poll has found.
The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey showed Cuomo in front with 38 percent support, with New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani in second with 10 percent.
Embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams came in third with 8 percent support, followed by state Sen. Jessica Ramos and city Comptroller Brad Lander with 6 percent, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer with 5 percent, and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie with 4 percent.
Cuomo’s support is a 5-point increase from his support level in Emerson’s poll last month, taken before Cuomo entered the race.
“With about three months until the Democratic Primary, Governor Cuomo has emerged as the top candidate in the race, with no clear alternative emerging among Democratic voters,” said Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, in a release.
But Mamdani saw the biggest jump of any candidate, rising 9 points from just 1 percent support in February.
Mamdani has shown some signs of rising enthusiasm, particularly among younger voters, for his campaign in polling as he tries to solidify the progressive vote behind him. He received attention earlier this month for his confrontation with Trump border czar Tom Homan in Albany, challenging him over the detention of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.
But Cuomo still is the clear front-runner, well ahead of the other candidates. Kimball noted that Cuomo’s support increases as voters’ ages go up, receiving support from 21 percent of voters under 30 and 44 percent of voters over 70.
But Cuomo still has support from more of the youngest group of voters than any other candidate, with Ramos and Mamdani behind him with 16 percent support each.
Cuomo also leads among Black voters and Hispanic voters, receiving 47 percent and 45 percent support, respectively.
The former governor also is the favorite in a hypothetical three-way match-up with Republican Curtis Sliwa, who was the GOP nominee for mayor in 2021, and Adams running as an independent. Adams has said he would only run as a Democrat, but some have speculated he may continue his candidacy outside the party as he has significantly struggled in the primary.
Cuomo leads with 43 percent support to Sliwa's 13 percent and Adams's 11 percent. But almost 30 percent of respondents said they were undecided.
Cuomo's advantage in the heavily Democratic city would not be a major surprise, but his victory could be somewhat less of a certainty given the controversies surrounding him, including accusations of sexual harassment from multiple women. He has denied their allegations and maintains his innocence.
Cuomo has sought to establish himself as the main centrist in the race, focusing on voters’ concerns about crime and emphasizing his leadership experience. But he has also pointed to his progressive successes as governor.
That message of public safety may be effective, as the poll found a third of voters listed it as their most important issue for the next mayor to address. Housing came in second with 23 percent, while immigration received 10 percent and health care received 7 percent.
The poll’s findings are also roughly in line with what a few other recently released polls have found on the primary. A Honan Strategy Group poll released Tuesday showed Cuomo leading with 41 percent support, Mamdani in second with 18 percent and the other candidates in the single digits.
A Data for Progress poll released earlier Wednesday showed Cuomo with 39 percent support and Mamdani with 15 percent.
With the city’s ranked-choice voting system, Cuomo eventually wins after several rounds of counting in both polls.
The Emerson poll was conducted from March 21 to 24 among 1,000 registered voters, including 653 Democratic primary voters. The credibility interval, similar to a margin of error, for the overall sample is 3 points, while the interval for primary voters is 3.8 points.