Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is within single digits of socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, a new poll revealed.
The poll, conducted by AtlasIntel, has Mamdani leading the race with 40.6% support and Cuomo trailing behind at 34%. Cuomo is just outside the margin of error of plus or minus 3%.
The result is one of the best of the race for Cuomo since his loss in the Democratic primary.
His campaign celebrated the result and said it represented new momentum in the race.
“The gap is closing fast — we can feel it on the ground everywhere from the Bronx to Staten Island. At this rate, we win the race. Keep going strong,” Cuomo said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
“Six points in this election is nothing,” the former governor later told reporters Saturday.
Cuomo also said he believed voters have learned since the primary and don’t believe Mamdani’s promises.
“What has happened is, in the primary, Zohran got away with his TikTok band and a smile, whatever he said, he smiled, and he had his slogans, ‘Freeze the rent,’ ‘Free buses,’ ‘Free food,’ and that was enough,” Cuomo said.
“What has happened since is people have [found] out what he’s about, and there is no free food, and there are no free buses, and he can’t raise corporate taxes statewide and dedicate it to New York [City]. That can’t happen,” he added.
As of recently, the poll is somewhat of an outlier. Three other recent polls — from Emerson College, Marist University, and Quinnipiac University — showed Mamdani with a 26-point, 16-point, and 10-point lead.
The AtlasIntel poll has one of the largest samplings, 1,587 likely voters, and was conducted from Oct. 25 to 30.
Andrei Roman, the CEO of AtlasIntel, told the New York Post that Mamdani’s left-wing policies appear to have motivated voters. “From not being inspirational to being really hated and terrifying people — that’s a major difference. That’s what’s happening with Mamdani,” he said.
“I think Cuomo’s chance in this election is to mobilize an anti-Mamdani vote within mostly the moderate Democratic base that voted for him in the primary but also with independents and Republicans and also mobilize a strategic vote by some of Sliwa’s voters,” he added.
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Most polls have shown Mamdani in the lead, and he’s favored to win the election. But the socialist has urged his supporters not to get comfortable.
“I continue to be confident, but I never let that confidence become complacency,” he said when asked about the poll.
