
New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears to quickly be losing the confidence of Democratic voters, if recent polling data bears any weight in forecasting the city’s political winds. According to a poll commissioned by Progressives for Democracy in America and first published by POLITICO, Adams is currently trailing well behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the upcoming mayoral race despite Cuomo not officially declaring his candidacy.
Adams, who overtook Andrew Yang in the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary despite early polling data to the contrary, seems to certainly not place much stock in such metrics. "Polls don’t make mayors. People do," Adams asserted at a press conference, as reported by POLITICO. Additionally, he reflected on his underdog status from past campaigns, "When you look at some of the people that ran [for] office, they inherited empires. I didn’t," translating his personal narrative into one of hard-fought success from meager beginnings.
The same poll depicted Cuomo at the forefront with 32 percent support, while Adams languished in sixth place alongside State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, each garnering only 6 percent. POLITICO indicated that after a simulation of five rounds of ranked choice voting, Cuomo emerged victorious with 51 percent support, while Adams' numbers failed to climb significantly. While Constituents are displaying clear dissatisfaction with the indicted mayor, Adams maintains his stance to run for reelection while on trial.
The embattled mayor's resistance to the negative polling is juxtaposed starkly against his current legal predicaments. Facing an April trial for federal corruption charges, Adams' popularity wanes, with CBS News New York reporting a 71 percent negative view among voters. On the other hand, Cuomo, despite his own issues — including a resignation in the face of sexual harassment allegations – managed a 48 percent positive score among polled individuals. Nonetheless, both figures hold controversial histories, with Mayoral candidate Brad Lander remarking to CBS News New York, "I don’t believe that New Yorkers want another corrupt chaos agent at City Hall."