Socialist likely to take control of country’s biggest city thanks to quirky voting system, poll shows

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 Bloombergand 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.

Mamdani’s campaign and Cuomo’s campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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