Cuomo Holds Commanding Lead In New Mayoral Primary Poll

NEW YORK CITY — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo remains the frontrunner in the Democratic primary field for mayor and has a double-digit lead over the second-place candidate, according to a new Marist College poll.

Cuomo is the first choice of 37 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, according to the poll released on Wednesday.

Zohran Mamdani remains in second place and is the choice of 18 percent of likely voters, followed by 9 percent for Adrienne Adams, 8 percent for Brad Lander and 4 percent support Scott Stringer.

Sen. Zellnor Myrie was the choice of 3 percent of likely voters while Jessica Ramos received the backing of 2 percent of voters, and 1 percent supports Whitney Tilson.

17 percent of Democratic voters remain undecided.

When calculating ranked choice voting round-by-round estimates, Cuomo receives 44 percent to 22 percent for Mamdani in the first round among likely Democratic primary voters. The former governor breaks the threshold in the fifth round where he receives 53% of likely Democratic primary voters, while Mamdani gets 29 percent, and Lander has 18 percent, according to the poll.

In addition, pollsters found that nearly 50 percent of likely voters in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island backed Cuomo.

The Marist Poll conducted from May 1-8 found 81 percent of likely Democratic primary voters think New York City is going in the wrong direction, while 19 percent said it’s headed in the right direction.

Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after a slew of sexual harassment claims and a scandal involving COVID-19 nursing home deaths, has already secured multiple endorsements from a number of elected officials, labor unions and political organizations.

After lagging behind in prior Democratic primary polls, Mayor Eric Adams made the move to run as an independent in his bid for reelection.

You can read the full Marist College poll here.