With just over a week remaining before Election Day, New York City’s mayoral race has tightened significantly.
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Democratic Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani’s lead over former Governor Andrew Cuomo has narrowed from 20 points in September to 10 points.
According to the survey, Mamdani has the support of 44% of likely voters, while Cuomo, running as an independent, has 34%. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa follows with 11%, and 7% of voters remain undecided.
The results suggest momentum has shifted in the final days of the campaign, with Cuomo’s recent endorsements and increased visibility contributing to a closer contest in one of the most closely watched local elections in the country.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 following multiple scandals, has mounted an unexpected political comeback. Long dismissed as a figure of New York’s old Democratic establishment, he has sought to reposition himself as an independent candidate focused on stability and pragmatism.
It’s a message that appears to be resonating with moderate Democrats and older voters who say they are uneasy about the city’s shift to the left.
Cuomo’s campaign received a significant boost earlier this month when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams endorsed him. Adams, who withdrew from the race but remains on the ballot, described Cuomo as the candidate best equipped to address concerns about crime, housing affordability, and the city’s overall quality of life.
The endorsement appears to have energized Cuomo’s campaign, particularly among working-class voters in the outer boroughs who have expressed frustration with Mamdani’s left-wing socialist platform.
Cuomo has also sought to tap into voter unease over Mamdani’s platform, which includes proposals to expand rent control, raise taxes on luxury property owners, and reduce police funding in favor of social programs. On the campaign trail, Cuomo has criticized those ideas as “utopian socialism,” arguing they would harm the city’s economy and accelerate the exodus of jobs and families from New York.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, has become a leading figure in New York’s progressive movement. His unexpected victory in June’s Democratic primary — secured through ranked-choice voting — reshaped the city’s political landscape and energized the activist left.
His campaign has focused on housing affordability, tenant protections, and broader economic reforms aimed at addressing inequality, but those would come with heavy taxes on companies and wealthier New Yorkers.
The closing weeks of the campaign have proven challenging for Mamdani, whose team has struggled to counter mounting criticism portraying him as too radical and inexperienced for the job. Cuomo’s supporters have highlighted Mamdani’s past statements in favor of defunding the NYPD and his calls to “reimagine policing,” casting him as disconnected from voters worried about rising crime.
Even some Democrats who supported him in the primary have since questioned whether he is prepared to oversee the city’s vast bureaucracy, reports have noted.
The tensions escalated following a series of contentious debates in which Cuomo accused Mamdani of being “a Twitter activist pretending to be a mayor.” Mamdani responded by pointing to Cuomo’s history of corruption scandals and his 2021 resignation, arguing that the former governor embodies what he calls the entrenched dysfunction of New York politics.
Beyond policy, the race has come to represent a broader struggle over New York City’s political and cultural identity. If elected, Mamdani would become the city’s first Muslim mayor and one of the youngest in modern history — milestones his supporters have embraced but critics have used to question his readiness for office.
Cuomo’s narrowing poll numbers suggest that, for many swing voters, identity politics may be giving way to pragmatism. With public safety, housing, and taxes dominating the debate, a growing share of New Yorkers appear to be prioritizing experience and stability over ideology, Trending Politics noted.