Exit poll finds one-third of NYC Jews backed anti-Israel Mamdani; Cuomo took Jewish areas

A CNN exit poll found that 33 percent of Jewish voters supported far-left, anti-Israel Democrat Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday’s New York City mayoral election, while 63% voted for independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and 3% backed Republican Curtis Sliwa.

The poll — based on a Jewish sample of roughly 710 respondents — offers one of the few glimpses into how the city’s Jewish population voted, as New York does not release data on voters’ religion or ethnicity. CNN did not disclose the poll’s margin of error or full methodology.

The findings come as Mamdani, 34, defeated Cuomo and Sliwa to become New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century, marking a sharp leftward turn for the city and a potential shift in the political landscape of American Jewry’s largest community.

Although a third of Jewish voters backed Mamdani, Jewish neighborhoods across the city overwhelmingly favored Cuomo, according to precinct-level data.

In the Hasidic enclave of Williamsburg, up to 90% of voters chose Cuomo, forming an island of support in an otherwise Mamdani-dominated stretch of western Queens and Brooklyn.

In nearby gentrified areas, Mamdani won by similar margins, taking as much as 90% of the vote.

Other heavily Jewish areas — including Crown Heights, Borough Park, and Midwood — also broke decisively for Cuomo, with one Borough Park precinct recording more than 96% support for him.

Cuomo likewise carried much of the Upper East Side and parts of the Upper West Side, both home to large but more mixed Jewish populations.

The new data aligns broadly with a Quinnipiac University poll released October 29, which found that 60% of Jews favored Cuomo, 16% supported Mamdani, and 12% planned to vote for Sliwa.

That earlier poll, which surveyed 170 Jewish respondents with a ±9.2% margin of error, also showed 75% of Jews held an unfavorable view of Mamdani, while crime, housing, and schools ranked as their top concerns. The survey did not ask about Israel or other explicitly Jewish issues.

Mamdani, a state assemblymember from Queens and outspoken critic of Israel, campaigned on a progressive agenda aimed at making the city more affordable. He has accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide” and endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — positions that have drawn strong condemnation from pro-Israel and Jewish organizations.

In his victory speech Tuesday night, Mamdani sought to reassure Jewish New Yorkers that he would take a firm stance against antisemitism.

“We will build a city hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” he said. “Where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong — not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power. No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”

Mamdani’s election represents a symbolic break from decades of mayoral politics in which support for Israel was seen as essential to winning citywide office.