Yet another poll on the New York mayoral race less than two years from now puts former Governor Andrew Cuomo at the head of the pack.
The Slingshot Strategies poll, released Saturday, makes the former governor — who resigned in August 2021 over a sexual harassment scandal — the Democratic frontrunner in the 2025 mayoral election should the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, not be in the race.
The same poll also found that a majority of respondents think Adams should resign if he is indicted, though at present he has not been said to be under any criminal investigation. Adams, however, has been linked to a former campaign aide whose Brooklyn home was raided in November over questionable activities involving Turkish developers; the probe also resulted in the mayor having his phones seized by the FBI.
In the Slingshot survey, voters overwhelmingly said they would back Cuomo, who resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment (which he denied), were he to jump in a race to replace Adams. The prospect of Cuomo’s candidacy comes in the wake of reports that he is weighing a run for mayor as part of a bid to reenter political life.
Out of a wide field of 11 potential candidates who have been reported to be interested in a run for mayor, the survey found Cuomo would garner 15% of the top-ranked votes if a ranked-choice special election to replace Mayor Adams were held today.
Cuomo would be tailed by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams with 9% of top votes and Republican Curtis Sliwa with 8% of top votes — followed by a group of other city and state officials that respondents said they were less familiar with. In an instant runoff simulation of these results, Cuomo would best Williams in the final round by a margin of over 30 points.
But since the basis of the survey is completely speculative, the results can be viewed as an abstract approximation.
Around 36% of those surveyed said that they were not sure who they were who they would vote for in a special election — more than the amount of top-ranked votes that any individual candidate received.
The circumstances of this special election scenario and the indictment against Adams are hypothetical for now. Mayor Adams has said that his campaign “held itself to the highest standards.” He is currently raising money for a 2025 reelection bid.
But the poll is the second one in a week to document the way that the FBI probe is weighing on the mayor’s public perception. It found that 56% of New Yorkers disapprove of his job performance, as opposed to 37% that approve.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found his approval rating to be at 28% — a record low since Quinnipiac began tracking mayoral popularity more than 30 years ago.
If federal investigators were to issue an indictment for Adams, 52% of voters believe he should resign as mayor, versus 38% who believe he should remain in the position as the legal process plays out.
Deputy Mayor of Communications Fabien Levy called the results of the Slingshot poll misleading.
“When political opportunists can’t win at the ballot box, they try to win in the court of public opinion by spreading lies. Mayor Adams was voted into office to fight for working New Yorkers — and he will keep fighting for them as mayor no matter what his political opponents say, and no matter what other arrow of injustice is aimed his way. Attempting to tear down the city’s second Black mayor for blatant political purposes is shameful,” Levy said.
