Zohran Mamdani leads among Jewish voters by a 17-point margin in the race to become New York’s next mayor, according to a new poll.
The survey from Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions predicted that Mamdani would dominate all four of his opponents combined, with 50% of the vote. The Democratic nominee shifted the landscape of New York politics with his primary victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month.
The poll found that 43% of Jewish voters said they would vote for Mamdani, including 67% of Jewish voters aged 18 to 44. Cuomo trailed with 26% of Jewish voters, followed by Mayor Eric Adams with 15%.
The poll is the latest in a series to project a Mamdani win but the first to assess the attitudes of Jewish voters specifically ahead of the general election. A poll before the Democratic primary found that Mamdani was the second choice of Jewish voters at the time, behind Cuomo.
Mamdani’s vocal criticism of Israel has raised questions about his support among New York’s Jewish population, the largest outside of Israel. During the race, Mamdani has said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, affirmed his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and said that he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited New York, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant.
This poll suggests that many younger, less observant Jews are not deterred by his views from planning to vote for Mamdani. Another survey released this week found that Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian advocacy motivated a majority of his primary voters, including 83% of new voters.
The Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions poll surveyed 1,453 New Yorkers from July 16-24, noting a 2.9% margin of error among registered voters and a slightly higher margin among Jewish voters, due to sample size. Public Progress Solutions, which commissioned the poll, is led by Mamdani ally Amit Singh Bagga.
The poll found that Jews over 45 and more observant Jews constituted some of the largest blocs for Cuomo and Adams — but that neither candidate could prevail in a head-to-head match against Mamdani.
Several Jewish real estate tycoons and hedge funders are forming super PACs to defeat Mamdani, who says he will raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund social services. Jewish hedge funder Ricky Sandler has pledged $500,000 to tank Mamdani; Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman said he will give “hundreds of millions of dollars” to a competitor.
Many of these donors plan to consolidate funding around “anybody but Mamdani,” said Marty Burger, the Jewish chief executive of Infinite Global Real Estate Partners, in an email seen by The New York Times. Other rank-and-file Jewish New Yorkers have formed WhatsApp groups in hopes of organizing against the candidate. But even if all Mamdani’s rivals but Cuomo dropped out, the new poll still forecasted Mamdani to win 52% to 40% in a direct matchup, with 8% undecided.
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