NYC Mayor’s Race: Mamdani leads with Jewish voters in new poll, but most worry his vision for NYC would make them less safe

A new poll in the NYC Mayor’s race released Friday showed that Assembly Member and Democratic nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) leads the field among registered Jewish voters.

The poll, conducted by GQR with Jewish advocacy organization New York Solidarity Network (NYSN), surveyed 800 Jewish voters and determined that 37% support Mamdani’s candidacy, while 25% support Mayor Eric Adams, 21% support former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and 14% support Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.46%.

Though Mamdani seems to have plurality support, the survey found that there remains a great deal of mistrust among Jewish voters over whether he can adequately support and defend them as mayor.

NYSN, aiming to examine the sentiments of Jewish voters in a uniquely heated race for City Hall, also found in its poll that 58% of Jewish voters worry that New York City would be less safe for Jews if Mamdani were elected mayor. Moreover, more than half of surveyed Jewish voters (51%) said they believe Mamdani is antisemitic.

NYSN Director Sara Forman said the organization “really wanted to try to understand where Jewish voters are in this moment.”

One of Forman’s main takeaways from the poll was that Israel is “not a wedge issue for Jews as much as it’s being portrayed by other surveys that not they weren’t nearly as comprehensive as this.”

“We saw overwhelmingly, 66% of all of those surveyed, still consider themselves to be pro-Israel, even in this moment,” Forman said. “I think that’s a very important takeaway.”

Mamdani has faced criticism for his refusal to outright condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which some hear as a call to violence against Jewish people and others hear as a call for Palestinian liberation. The Assembly member has also been critical of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid Israel’s war in Gaza — stances that have led some to accuse the 33-year-old democratic socialist of antisemitism.

In response to such accusations, Mamdani has emphasized his dedication to meeting with Jewish community leaders, engaging in discourse, and protecting New Yorkers against hate and discrimination.

“Zohran holds the support of thousands of Jewish New Yorkers who trust him to make this city more affordable and to protect their safety,” Mamdani spokesperson Jeffrey Lerner wrote in a statement to amNewYork. “They’re also tired of seeing Jewish suffering be cynically exploited for personal gain from the likes of Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams. Zohran remains committed to meeting with Jewish elected officials and community leaders, and hearing from Jewish New Yorkers directly in the coming months.”

Cuomo has continued to raise concerns about Mamdani’s track record on Israel, and Adams has said that Mamdani’s rhetoric is antisemitic. With little support left in the Democratic party, Adams is running as an independent in November on the “EndAntisemitism” party line.

Antisemitism a key issue

The NYSN poll found that three in four Jewish voters are concerned about antisemitism in New York City — 42% of those surveyed think it is a “somewhat serious problem” while 32% think it is a “very serious problem.” Meanwhilek, 63% of those surveyed said they think the phrase “globalize the intifada,” commonly chanted at pro-Palestinian protests, is antisemitic.

Though most of those surveyed said they think antisemitism is a problem, the majority also said that local issues “like crime and affordability” are more important than Israel and antisemitism in the upcoming general election.

The poll found that among those surveyed who support Mamdani, the greatest driving factors are his commitments to tax the rich, increase access to affordable housing, and “focus more on mental health officers rather than police to stop crime before it happens.” Seventeen percent of Jewish Mamdani supporters said his “position on Israel, Palestinians and the War in Gaza” is a top-three factor in their decision to vote for him.

A poll released earlier this week by Data for Progress and the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project found that Mamdani’s “support for Palestinian rights” and “willingness to criticize the Israeli government” helped him win the June Democratic primary race, in which he delivered Cuomo a surprise defeat.

In the NYSN poll, Mamdani found most of his support among younger, less observant Jewish voters as opposed to older, observant voters who mostly swung for Adams and Cuomo.

In regard to ensuring Jewish safety and combatting antisemitism, 85% of those surveyed said it would be important that Mamdani, if elected mayor, maintain a “strong police presence in front of synagogues during Jewish high holidays,” 83% said it would be important that Mamdani increase “city-wide efforts to reduce antisemitism in New York City,” 74% said it would be important to maintain “current police policy to route anti-Israel protests away from Jewish communities, synagogues and schools,” and 74% said it would be important for Mamdani to maintain “current city funding to all Jewish nonprofit organizations.”

Mamdani has signaled that he would consider keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her current role.

Forman emphasized that though Mamdani leads among Jewish voters, most Jewish voters are opposed to his candidacy.

“The issue here is that it’s a divided field, so their loyalties are not with one sole candidate,” Forman said. “The majority of them, though, when you add them up, 60% do not support Mamdani, so we’re not even close to being in a situation where the majority of the Jewish community supports Zohran Mamdani for mayor.”