New York City Mayoral Race Heats Up

The competition for the New York City mayoral seat has intensified with former Governor Andrew Cuomo entering the race. Recent polling shows that he’s significantly narrowed the gap with leading candidate Zoran Mamdani, bringing his lead down from a month ago.

Currently, Mamdani, running as a Democrat, holds a 10-point edge over Cuomo, now at 44% compared to Cuomo’s 34% among likely voters in the city, based on a Suffolk University poll.

Republican Curtis Sliwa trails behind with 11% support.

A prior Suffolk poll from September had indicated a much larger lead for Mamdani, with a 20-point difference between him and Cuomo.

This latest poll also marks the first major survey since Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from his re-election campaign and endorsed Cuomo.

Cuomo appears to have made strides with Hispanic voters, now nearly even with Mamdani, which is quite a turnaround considering he was 30 points behind last month. Additionally, he has moved from leading by 18 points to now having a 10-point advantage among independent voters.

Interestingly, a segment of voters—7%—remain undecided, and the remaining candidates collectively attract just 2% of voter support.

Both Cuomo and Sliwa seem to be dividing the anti-Mamdani vote, complicating their efforts to unseat the Democratic Socialist frontrunner.

Poll findings suggest that many of Sliwa’s supporters would likely back Cuomo if Sliwa were not in the race. “One individual’s voter base could significantly influence the election’s outcome,” noted David Paleologos, directed at Suffolk University’s Center for Political Research.

“That person is certainly not Eric Adams, Hakeem Jeffries, or Chuck Schumer. It’s Curtis Sliwa, who holds that crucial 11% of voters preventing Cuomo from winning,” he added.

The poll highlighted that when Sliwa’s supporters were asked about their second choice, 36% opted for Cuomo, while a mere 2% went for Mamdani.

The Suffolk University telephone poll was carried out from Thursday to Sunday, involving 500 likely general election voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Other candidates in the race include Adams, who recently backed Cuomo, Conservative Eileen Estrada, and independents Joseph Hernandez and Jim Walden.

Early voting began Monday and will continue for nine days leading up to the election on November 4.