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.”