By IRELAND OWENS | DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION
Democratic New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, has the edge over former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary due to the Big Apple’s atypical voting system, according to a poll released Monday.
New York City on Tuesday will conduct its mayoral primary elections using ranked-choice voting. The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey found that in the eighth round of a ranked-choice voting simulation, once all the other candidates were eliminated, Mamdani beat Cuomo for the Democratic nod — receiving 52% of the vote to the former governor’s 48%.
In the raw vote total, Cuomo is leading the other candidates with 35% support, followed closely by Mamdani at 32%, according to the poll. Meanwhile, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander received 13% support, while City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams received 8%, Scott Stringer secured 3% and 4% of voters said they were undecided, according to the survey.
“Over five months, Mamdani’s support has surged from 1% to 32%, while Cuomo finishes near where he began,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, wrote in a press release. “In the ranked-choice simulation, Mamdani gains 18 points compared to Cuomo’s 12, putting him ahead in the final round for the first time in an Emerson poll.”
Mamdani’s once-longshot mayoral bid has significantly picked up steam over the past few weeks, surveys show. In a separate Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll released in May, Cuomo led Mamdani 35% to 23%.
Several recent polls have indicated that Cuomo and Mamdani are the co-frontrunners in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. The disgraced former New York governor has notably secured several key endorsements in the mayoral race, including from Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton.
In a piece published June 16, the New York Times editorial board blasted Mamdani, claiming that he “is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance.” Meanwhile, the editorial board asserted that Cuomo “has the strongest policy record of the candidates,” adding that they think he has “won the most impressive collection of endorsements” in the New York City mayoral race. However, the board stopped short of giving any candidate its endorsement.
The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey of New York City Democratic Primary voters was conducted June 18-20, 2025. The sample includes likely voters and those who have already voted early, n=833, with a margin of error of +/-3.3%.
The first round of the RCV simulation includes n=800, with a margin of error of +/-3.4 percent. The final round includes n=729, with a MOE of +/-3.6%. The data sets were weighted by 2025 voter modeling, including gender, education, race/ethnicity, age, region, and 2021 vote recall.
Oh, you mean just like Anchorage?
The solution:
.
Bring back Rudy Giuliani.
RCV in Alaska needs to go, but the NYC scenario isn’t really a good example of why.
NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary is not really comparable the RCV forced on Alaska, so its somewhat misleading. RCV, if anything, probably benefits Cuomo as the ‘moderate’, but lets be honest here – we are talking about NYC Democrats. Probably the most unhinged degenerate whackadoodles outside of San Fran-sicko and Portland. It would not surprise me in the slightest that an outright majority of that set would support a socialist Pajama Boy.
But its not the same as RCV in Alaska. NYC is simply a Democratic party primary – and Democrats chose this method as the way for their party to select their mayoral candidate. The NYC general election is still traditional, and each party is allowed the right to select their ‘champion’.
RCV in Alaska *eliminated* the entire primary system – because out-of-state Democrats + Murkowski supporters don’t believe Alaska Republicans have a right to select their own candidates without interference from D voters.
I concur.
If AK would allow for CLOSED party primaries, then the parties could use whatever method of selecting their candidate they prefer.
As a Non-partisan, I’d be happy to see closed primaries where each party put its best foot forward. I can decide for myself which candidate I prefer in the general election.
Right there👆
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The RCV portion is not the real issue. The “top four regardless of party” is the real abomination. And, 2022 demonstrates exactly why. The conservatives and Republicans (no, they are not the same) pretty much said they were done with Murkowski, but jungle primaries allowed the democrats to ensure she got equal billing in the general. And, yes, I have proof of it, just look at the dismal results for the Dem frontrunner in the primary. Dems turned out in droves to support a Republican. (And, no… that is not a benefit, as the Party has the right to say who represents them on the ballot in the general election.)
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Jungle primaries lead to California. Essentially a one party state controlled by three population centers.
SCOTUS should shoot down every single move this guy makes if gets in. This is incompatible with the constitution
Aren’t they both socialists? That the best NYC has to offer?
New York may elect someone who’s not an ar$hole like Cuomo.
This will be the biggest mistake New York can make, and that includes DeBalsio who is Communist.
Results mean the vast majority of New York City voters preferred anyone other than the Cuomo kid by a 2 to 1 margin.
That’s all and that reflects obvious democratic preference.
That will be highly entertaining.
I hope he gets it ….. Cuomo stinks, like all the “machine” politicians back there.
Then maybe Jew York (thank you Kurt Vonnegut) will elect Curtis Sliwa.
And if they don’t ….. NYC deserves this radical jew hater.
Plus how much worse then DeBlasio can he be?
In addition, it would be sweet to see the RCV process toss a solid Dem Machine politician like A.Cuomo.
A) Why is the mayor of New York City of any concern to me, an Alaskan resident, homeowner, and voter?
B) Fiorello Henry La Guardia was a Republican Socialist who was so beloved that an airport in Queens is named after him. So who cares? Seems a silly thing to be bothered by.
I really hope this Mamdani guy wins in November. It couldn’t happen to a more disgusting cesspool than NYC. Can you say schadenfreude?!