Quinnipiac poll: Mamdani leads NYC mayoral race by double digits

Two-thirds of Jews had an unfavorable opinion of Mamdani, who has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

By JNS

New York state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani continues to lead the race for New York City mayor by double digits among likely voters, even after incumbent Eric Adams ended his campaign, according to a poll released on Thursday.

In the Quinnipiac University poll, Mamdani, who will turn 34 this month, had a 13-point lead, polling 46% to 33% for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an Independent, and 15% for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

In a four-way race last month, Mamdani led the field by 22 points.

Adams was the top choice of likely Jewish voters in a September Quinnipiac poll, but the latest survey showed them shifting their support to Cuomo.

The former governor was backed by 60% of likely Jewish voters, compared with 29% for Mamdani and 8% for Sliwa.

“The numbers changed, but the contours of the race haven’t,” stated Mary Snow, assistant director of the poll.

“Andrew Cuomo picked up the bulk of Adams’s supporters, cutting into Zohran Mamdani’s lead, but Mamdani’s frontrunner status by double digits stays intact.”

Two-thirds of Jews had an unfavorable opinion of Mamdani, who has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and initially refused to condemn the anti-Israel slogan “globalize the intifada.”

At a Capitol Hill press conference earlier this week marking the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, a former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, criticized those who refused to denounce the phrase.

“When public figures slander Israel or normalize calls for violence—chants of ‘globalize the intifada,’ when there is open praise for Hamas—they help to create the conditions for violence,” Deutch said.

Even so, 41% of likely voters said Mamdami’s views of the war between Israel and Hamas were closest to their own, with 26% naming Cuomo and 13% saying Sliwa.

The remaining 20% said they did not have an opinion.

And by 43% to 22%, likely voters said their sympathies lay with the Palestinians rather than Israel, with 34% having no opinion.

Still, likely voters disagreed with Mamdani’s threat to enforce a warrant by the International Criminal Court and arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to New York City, 43% to 38%, with 19% offering no opinion.

The poll was taken before U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war and release all of the hostages.

The survey of 1,015 likely voters was conducted Oct. 3-7; it had a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.