Poll Shows Cuomo Leading Mayoral Race, as Adams’s Unfavorability Among Democrats Emerges as Higher Than Trump’s

New York City Democrats think the city is in crisis, a new poll finds — and Mayor Eric Adams has a higher unfavorability rating among city Democrats than President Trump. The poll also finds the former New York State governor, Andrew Cuomo, with a substantial lead in the Democratic primary were he to enter the mayor’s race.Mr. Cuomo’s advantage, says veteran Democratic pollster, Bradley Honan, who conducted the poll, stems not from Mr. Cuomo’s favorability among New York Democrats but from their perception that Mr. Cuomo is the most capable of tackling the crises the city faces. Eight out of 10 city Democrats are worried about crime, according to the poll, and 75 percent think the city is “in a period of crises.” Nearly half of city Democrats say, “if things get any worse” they are likely to leave New York. Mr. Cuomo wins the highest marks — by double digits — when it comes to keeping New York City safe, fixing the MTA, and improving quality of life.“He’s their last hope that things can somehow be managed, whether they like him or not,” a Democratic strategist, Hank Sheinkopf tells The New York Sun of Mr. Cuomo. “One thing is sure, though, people are not happy, and that if the progressives do win, or the lefties do win, that New York is likely to die as we know it.”This pessimistic outlook among Democrats comes after three consecutive terms of Democratic mayoral control and a City Council with only 6 Republicans out of 50 seats. Yet Mr. Honan says the primary electorate will likely be larger, more progressive, and more female than it was in 2021, when Mayor Adams won. He calls these voters the “anti-Trump Democratic surge.”“There are the markings here of a very, very significant inflection point for New York City,” Mr. Honan said Monday in a Zoom call with reporters. “These data points suggest that Mayor Adams has a very, very steep climb in his re-election battle.”Mr. Honan says in his 25 years of polling New York City, he has only seen such negative perceptions of the city in the immediate aftermaths of 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic. When asked by the Sun whether this could signal that the city is ready to elect a Republican mayor, Mr. Honan said, “I don’t count it out.”“If there was ever a time for a Republican, other than when Giuliani won the first time, that’s now,” the chairman of the Bronx GOP, Mike Rendino, tells the Sun. “The only wild card is Andrew Cuomo.”Mr. Cuomo is vying for independents, centrist Democrats, and New Yorkers fed up with crime, city mismanagement, the migrant crisis, and government corruption. He is pitching himself to black, Jewish, and outer-borough working class voters — the coalition that turned out for President Trump in numbers not seen in the city for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.Mr. Cuomo’s spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, tells the Sun in a statement that this “all remains premature.” Mr. Cuomo has not said whether he will run for mayor, though an announcement is expected this month. His allies are taking steps to form a super PAC for a potential run, according to the New York Times.The former three-term governor of New York, though, comes with his own set of baggage, which his 33 percent unfavorability rating in the poll — surpassed only by Mr. Adams and Trump — demonstrates. Mr. Cuomo resigned from the governorship in 2021, amid a sexual harassment and workplace retaliation scandal that a fellow Democrat, Attorney General Letitia James, detailed in a 165-page report. Mr. Cuomo denied the charges against him. All of the suits from women were later dropped. Mr. Cuomo is now suing one of his accusers for defamation. Mr. Cuomo’s handling of Covid will also come under a microscope. His March 25, 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients turned facilities into hotbeds for the virus and caused deaths. A federal judge tossed a wrongful death suit against the former governor in September. Mr. Rendino thinks Guardian Angels founder, Curtis Sliwa — the only Republican to say he is jumping in the race — has a shot of winning if one of the far-left progressive candidates wins the Democratic primary. He says if Mr. Cuomo wins, the Working Families Party may run a progressive on their third-party line, pulling votes away from Mr. Cuomo. The former goevrnor’s feud with the third party stems from their endorsement of his primary opponent Cynthia Nixon in 2018. Mr. Sheinkopf says “anything can happen,” though he thinks Mr. Sliwa’s prospects are not good. “You can’t manufacture enough Red Berets to make that come to life,” Mr. Sheinkopf says.“Voters are concerned about the future of New York. That’s what that poll tells us,” Mr. Sheinkopf says, “And they don’t believe that anybody right now but Andrew Cuomo can secure that future, if there is one to be had here.”

Poll Shows Cuomo Leading Mayoral Race, as Adams’s Unfavorability Among Democrats Emerges as Higher Than Trump’s

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