NYC voters favor Mamdani’s campaign rhetoric on Israeli-Palestinian conflict — poll

Survey says 46% of likely voters believe the harsh Israel critic handled the Middle East issue best during the primary campaign

By Luke Tress

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9 September 2025, 11:00 pm

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Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks on stage for the March on Wall Street, August 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

NEW YORK — A plurality of New York City residents who are likely to vote in the November mayoral election favor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign rhetoric about Israel, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Mamdani is a far-left state assemblymember from Queens and a harsh critic of Israel. During the mayoral primary campaign, his rhetoric caused repeated controversies, particularly his defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

He has since said he would “discourage” the slogan, without condemning the phrase.

Mamdani won a stunning upset in the Democratic Party mayoral primary earlier this year and is the heavy favorite to win November’s general election.

A poll by The New York Times and Siena College asked likely voters, “Regardless of who you may support, which of the following mayoral candidates do you think has best addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the campaign?”

Mamdani was the leading candidate, at 43 percent, including 70% support among 18- to 29-year-olds. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a staunch supporter of Israel, is the favorite of 16% of likely voters, followed by pro-Israel Mayor Eric Adams, 11%, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, 8%.

The remainder didn’t know or refused to answer.

The poll showed Mamdani with a huge lead, with 46% of respondents saying they would vote for him if the election were held at the time of the survey, followed by Cuomo, 24%, Sliwa, 15%, and Adams, 9%.

The poll queried 1,284 likely voters between September 2-6 and had a margin of error of 4.2 points. Fifteen percent of the respondents were Jewish.

A poll in July found that 30% of New York City voters supported Mamdani’s statements about the anti-Israel boycott movement and the phrase “globalize the intifada.” For younger voters, the figure was 46%.

Mamdani is divisive among Jewish voters. He was the leading candidate among Jews in the four-way race, with around 37% support, according to a July poll by the pro-Israel New York Solidarity Network. That figure is similar to his support among the non-Jewish population.

While 60% of Jews were opposed to Mamdani, their support is divided among the other candidates.

Slightly more than half of the city’s Jews believe Mamdani is antisemitic, and 58% believe the city will be less safe for Jews if Mamdani is elected, the poll found.

Far-left groups like IfNotNow, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, and the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace have backed Mamdani, while Zionist Jewish groups have rallied against him.