Charles Payne Says ‘Pampered’ And ‘Entitled Folks’ Were Key To Zohran Mamdani’s Win

Fox Business’ Charles Payne on Wednesday said that a large portion of Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s supporters were “pampered” and “entitled” young people.

Exit polls showed that Mamdani fared better with voters earning more than $100,000 a year than those making less than $30,000. Payne stated on “America Reports” that elite young people, rather than the working class, were the ones who supported Mamdani after they believed they could make six figures right out of college.

“What I find interesting about this, particularly the screen you have before this with the affordability stuff, the poorest people in New York City, people who dropped out of high school, people with only high school diploma, they didn’t vote for Mamdani,” Payne said. “You know, it’s being it’s being characterized as, well, free, it was freebie stuff. This was an election about pampered, the most elite, pampered, entitled folks out there, recent college grads who thought they would walk into a six-figure job when they moved to New York City, and they’re not. The poor people who are struggling to make a day-to-day overwhelmingly voted for Cuomo. That’s one of the ironies of this thing.” 

WATCH:

Independent New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo won the demographic making less than $30,000 against Mamdani by a 48% to 42% margin, according to a CNN exit poll. New Yorkers earning between $100,000 and $199,999 supported Mamdani 55% to 37%, and Mamdani won those earning $200,000 and $299,999 by 49% to 44% against Cuomo.

A plurality of voters who never attended college also supported Cuomo over Mamdani, 46% to 40%, the exit poll found. Mamdani won 57% of voters who have either obtained a bachelor’s or advanced degree, while Cuomo won 38% of those voters.

A Fox News poll found that 64% of New Yorkers had a negative view of the city’s economy, and 60% believed raising taxes would hurt the economy. Despite their opposition to raising taxes, this voter bloc largely voted for Mamdani, who has promised to raise taxes on the rich in order to fund his socialist policy proposals.

Mamdani campaigned on raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, enacting government-run grocery stores and buses and raising taxes on the wealthy. He also has proposed the establishment of a Department of Community Safety, which would deploy mental health professionals to handle non-violent 911 calls rather than police.

Charlie Kirk, the late Turning Point USA founder, discussed the concept of “luxury beliefs,” which are elitist views that do not affect elites and hurt average Americans, during his last long-form interview. He noted that a large portion of people who support far-left policies are college students and recent graduates from the U.S.’ most elite universities.