New Yorkers are still unsure if they’d welcome a socialist mayor, even as Zohran Mamdani leads pack: poll

They’re not sold on the socialist.

A majority of New Yorkers are uneasy about the possibility socialist Zohran Mamdani will take over City Hall — as a new poll points to a potential mayoral horse race if the firebrand’s opponents thin out the crowded field.

The proudly far-left Democratic nominee, maintained his frontrunner status in a four-way race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, according to the poll released Tuesday and paid for by Wick Insights.

But the race becomes neck-and-neck if Mamdani only faces Andrew Cuomo in a head-to-head contest, although the poll found the Queens assemblyman carries the highest favorability of any mayoral candidate.

“Understandably, Adams and Cuomo remain very unpopular,” said political prognosticator Ken Frydman.

“Neither of them will become more popular before Election Day. In fact, they may become even more unpopular by then.”

“Voters tend to favor politicians with big smiles and winning personalities like Mamdani more than politicians with dour expressions and personalities like Cuomo.”

The poll — which surveyed 500 likely voters and did not include longshot independent candidate Jim Walden — provides a portrait of a New York City electorate not yet convinced about electing the untested Mamdani.

The lack of overwhelming support for the Democratic nominee, who has failed to gain the party establishment’s backing, could be because New Yorkers are still uneasy about electing a socialist mayor.

The poll shows just 46% of voters would welcome a socialist mayor, while 44% say they would oppose one in Gracie Mansion.

A further 10% said they were not sure whether they’d support or oppose electing a socialist mayor, the poll found.

And a slim majority of New Yorkers — 53% — said Mamdani’s dreamy socialist vision for the Big Apple won’t work in the real world, according to the survey.

Mamdani, however, was viewed by roughly half of voters as the candidate most focused on the cost of living and to stand up for working people.

He was also the only mayoral candidate whose favorability wasn’t deep underwater, although the percentage of voters who viewed him favorably — 43% — was the same as those who did unfavorably.

The fresh-faced Democrat Mamdani was the clear frontrunner with 39% support in the four-way race with two independents — Adams and Cuomo — and the Republican Sliwa, the poll found.

Cuomo, who was trounced by the upstart socialist in the Democratic primary in June, held onto his second-place status with 21%, while Sliwa came in third with 18%.

In a distant fourth, the poll had Adams with an abysmal 9% of support.

Mamdani would also handily beat Adams and Sliwa in face-to-face contests, but it was a different story with Cuomo, the poll found.

Cuomo came in just slightly ahead of Mamdani, 42% to 41%, well within the margin of error for the poll.

But political insiders have been leery of taking too much stock in a single poll after the Democratic primary took nearly all of them off guard.

Nearly every poll, save one, had Cuomo beating Mamdani in the ranked-choice primary — although they did show the socialist steadily narrowing the gap.

In the end, Mamdani trounced Cuomo by a 56% to 44% margin and garnered more primary votes than any Big Apple Democrat in more than three decades.

Still, Cuomo’s spokesman Rich Azzopardi welcomed the poll’s finding.

“Make no mistake — this is a race and the governor is talking directly to voters about his practical plans to make New York City more affordable, safer and better run, in direct contrast to Zohran Mamdani’s substance-free bumper sticker slogans and Adams’ record of mismanagement, self-dealing and, according to his own former police commissioner, corrupting and demoralizing the NYPD,” he said.