Zohran Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian positions drove 83% of his new voters in the NY primary, poll shows

As mayor, Mamdani said he would have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested upon setting foot in New York, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

By Shira Li Bartov, JTA

Zohran Mamdani’s advocacy for Palestinians was a motivating factor for most of the New Yorkers who voted for him in the mayoral primary, new polling from a progressive research group suggests.

Most voters who showed up for Mamdani were inspired by his campaign to lower costs and tax the wealthy, according to the poll conducted by Data for Progress and released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project on Tuesday.

But their third-most motivating issue was “his support for Palestinian rights,” which drove 62% of his voters.

New Yorkers who never voted before, a surge of tens of thousands of people, were especially motivated by Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian beliefs — 83% said it drove them to the voting booth.

Mamdani, who is running to be New York’s first Muslim mayor and has said that Palestinian rights are central to his identity, sharply criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza during the primary race.

When drilled repeatedly by journalists and opponents, he said that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians and that he supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

As mayor, Mamdani said he would have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested upon setting foot in New York, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

His refusal to condemn the pro-Palestinian protest slogan “globalize the intifada” — a position he has since softened — drew allegations of antisemitism.

It turns out that many primary voters were on his side, according to the poll commissioned by IMEU Policy Project, a pro-Palestinian advocacy nonprofit.

It found that 78% agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, 79% support restricting weapons shipments to Israel and 63% say that Netanyahu should be arrested if he visits New York.

The poll of 531 primary voters conducted earlier this month has a margin of error of 4%.

The results add to those from a different poll released earlier this month, by a conservative polling firm, that found about 30% of New York City voters said they were more likely to vote for Mamdani after learning his positions on Israel.

Mamdani’s victory signals a shift in the plates underlying the Democratic Party, which has long treated support for Israel as a guarantee.

“Democrats cannot hope to win future elections if they fail to speak directly to the pain so many Americans are feeling,” said Margaret DeReus, executive director of the IMEU Policy Project.

“Not just the pain of dealing with rising costs and a more fragile safety net, but the real grief of seeing Israel commit grave atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza using our tax dollars.”

Some traditional pro-Israel Democrats, such as Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, have criticized Mamdani’s approach to rhetoric about Israel. But some have also been sharply critical of Israel over the last few days.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is Jewish and recently accused Mamdani of “not hearing a big constituency” of New Yorkers worried about antisemitism, took a stance against the Israeli government on Monday.

In response to Netanyahu’s denial of starvation in Gaza, he said, “From a strategic standpoint, from a moral standpoint, and from a political standpoint, it’s fully bankrupt.”

Another vocal pro-Israel Democrat, Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, said in an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday that Netanyahu had done “irreparable damage” to Israel’s relationship with Democrats in the United States.

He added that support for the alliance between the United States and Israel was “eroding,” and anyone who denied that was “ignoring the numbers.”