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Some New Yorkers know the person they want for mayor. Others are more certain about the person they don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
In a recent New York Times\/Siena poll, a third of likely voters said they would \u201cnever consider\u201d Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. A similar percentage said they would \u201cnever consider\u201d former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in June.<\/p>\n
Based on a New York Times\/Siena poll of 1,284 likely voters in New York City from Sept. 2-6.<\/p>\n
The unlabeled segment represents the share who did not respond or who said they did not know.<\/p>\n
These \u201cnever\u201d voters and their concerns can impart some lessons. If Mr. Mamdani, the front-runner in the polls by far, wins in November, he will take office with notable opposition from voters in his own party. And his victory will be in part thanks to \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d voters, whose distaste for Mr. Cuomo may have more to do with the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from the governor\u2019s mansion in 2021 than his moderate policy stances.<\/p>\n
If the field shrank to a Mamdani-Cuomo matchup, which Mr. Cuomo and President Trump appear to be pushing for, these voters would be a key part of why the general election could get competitive.
The \u201cNever Mamdani\u201d bloc includes a nontrivial number of Democrats and a large share of Republicans, putting a ceiling on Mr. Mamdani\u2019s potential support.<\/p>\n
Based on a New York Times\/Siena poll of 1,284 likely voters in New York City from Sept. 2-6.<\/p>\n
Includes those who identified with or leaned toward each party.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five percent of the \u201cNever Mamdani\u201d voters are Democrats, a remarkably high share to be holding out against their own party\u2019s nominee. In the poll, he is winning just 61 percent of the city\u2019s Democratic voters.<\/p>\n
To make a rough comparison: In a Times\/Siena poll from October 2024, Kamala Harris won over 90 percent of N.Y.C. Democrats.<\/p>\n
The makeup of the \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d bloc \u2014 overwhelmingly Democrats \u2014 showcases why it could be hard for Mr. Cuomo to beat Mr. Mamdani, even one-on-one.<\/p>\n
Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters will make up about 72 percent of the likely N.Y.C. electorate for the coming election, making them a crucial contingent.<\/p>\n
For \u201cNever Mamdani\u201d Democrats, Mr. Mamdani\u2019s proposed policies are a bigger concern than the broader issue of his political ideology, although the two are probably linked in many voters\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n
Among \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d Democrats, views of Mr. Cuomo\u2019s personality and character dwarfed other concerns. The small but notable share who referred to policy concerns mainly cited his record as governor.<\/p>\n
Based on a New York Times\/Siena poll of 1,284 likely voters in New York City from Sept. 2-6.<\/p>\n
Poll question asked voters for the \u201cmain reason\u201d they would never support each candidate. \u201cDemocrats\u201d include those who leaned toward the Democratic party. Top 3 categories shown.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a selection of voters\u2019 responses, in their own words.<\/p>\n
Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n
\u201cLack of experience and promises he cannot keep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woman, 70s, Cuomo supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHis housing policies.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 30s, Adams supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHis statement of defunding the N.Y.P.D.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 60s, Sliwa supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHe does not value the safety of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 30s, Adams supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a communist and has no experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 40s, Adams supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cI believe he\u2019s an anti-Semite.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 70s, Adams supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s anti-Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 40s, Cuomo supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHe is socialist; I don\u2019t like him.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 60s, Cuomo supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHis beliefs will destroy N.Y.C.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 70s, Sliwa supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Mamdani<\/p>\n \u201cHis ideas are unrealistic. It\u2019s a nice fairy tale but not realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 70s, Cuomo supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Nearly half of the \u201cNever Mamdani\u201d Democrats cited his proposed policies as the primary reason for withholding their support, although many did not cite a specific policy. Rather, they expressed a general concern that he was too inexperienced to lead the city, or that his plans were unachievable.<\/p>\n Those who did have a particular grievance most often brought up his past calls to defund the police, a stance he has tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Mr. Mamdani recently said he would apologize for comments in 2020 calling the New York Police Department racist and homophobic.<\/p>\n Some Democrats called his views socialist or communist. (Mr. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, meaning his beliefs are similar to those of socialists but not exactly the same. He is not a communist.)<\/p>\n Some also said they thought Mr. Mamdani was anitsemitic, echoing accusations lobbed at him by his opponents in the race. Mr. Mamdani, who has denied the charge, has spoken frequently about expanding the city\u2019s efforts to combat antisemitism if elected.<\/p>\n \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d Democrats, by contrast, were far more likely to cite concerns about Mr. Cuomo\u2019s personality and character than any other issue.<\/p>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a sex pest.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 20s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a washed-up loser.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 40s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 50s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe likes power too much.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 20s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe is working with Trump against Mamdani.\u201d<\/p>\n Woman, 20s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s ridiculous, out of touch and running on 1990s-era politics. He hates the city and thinks of it as a vacation spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Man, 30s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n These voters most frequently brought up the sexual harassment allegations against Mr. Cuomo. Although he apologized at the time, he has now taken a more defiant stance toward his accusers and has denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n A large number also mentioned that Mr. Cuomo was conspiring with President Trump against Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Trump and his advisers have reportedly tried to clear the field for Mr. Cuomo by offering Mayor Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, positions in the administration in exchange for dropping out. \u201cI think they need to have one candidate,\u201d Mr. Trump said during a recent interview on Fox News. \u201cAnd it would look to me like Cuomo, frankly, is leading the other two.\u201d<\/p>\n Both men have said they intend to stay in the race, though Mr. Adams has hinted he may be open to dropping out.<\/p>\n The heavily Democratic nature of the \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d bloc suggests he will need to win over many Republicans. But the \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d Republicans and their concerns over his time as governor reveal he faces an uphill battle.<\/p>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a failed governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican woman, 50s, Sliwa supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cWas not a good governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic man, 60s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHandled the Covid-19 situation poorly, causing a lot of suffering and deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican woman, 50s, Sliwa supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Concern about Cuomo<\/p>\n \u201cHis continued mismanagement of the M.T.A. as governor, showing N.Y.C. transportation is not a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic woman, 30s, Mamdani supporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Regardless of party, virtually all the \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d voters who cited his policies mentioned his track record as governor, and many mentioned his actions early in the pandemic, including guidance that directed nursing homes to readmit patients who had tested positive.<\/p>\n Reporting by The New York Times revealed how Mr. Cuomo and his top aides had edited a state health department report to conceal how many nursing home residents died in the pandemic.<\/p>\n Some \u201cNever Cuomo\u201d Democrats also took issue with Mr. Cuomo\u2019s handling of the city\u2019s issues as governor, including his control of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.<\/p>\n Others said Mr. Cuomo was too closely tied to the city\u2019s wealthy business elites and worried his policies as mayor would not address working-class concerns. That contingent, however, was a relatively small segment in this category compared with those who disliked the job he did as governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some New Yorkers know the person they want for mayor. Others are more certain about the person they don\u2019t want. In a recent New York Times\/Siena poll, a third of likely voters said they would \u201cnever consider\u201d Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. A similar percentage said they would \u201cnever consider\u201d former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[13749,5603,6193,4514,2475,2980,476],"class_list":{"0":"post-22416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-cuomo","9":"tag-lessons","10":"tag-mamdani","11":"tag-mayor","12":"tag-race","13":"tag-voters","14":"tag-york"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Never Cuomo\u2019 Democrats who said his personality <\/strong>or character <\/strong>was their main concern<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\u201cNever Cuomo\u201d Democrats and Republicans who said his policies <\/strong>were their main concern<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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