Nearly 70% of New York City residents think Mayor Eric Adams should resign following his historic indictment on federal corruption charges last week, a new NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll out Friday has found.
The survey of 1,073 adult Big Apple residents, contacted by text or online between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, found that 69% of those reached believe the mayor should step down, with just 30% indicating he should serve out his term until the end of next year. Seventy-one percent of registered Democrats and 59% of Black city residents think Adams should go, the poll found.
“It’s hard to imagine how Mayor Adams could be faring any worse in the court of public opinion,” Marist College pollster Dr. Lee Miringoff said in a statement.
Those results serve as a blow to Adams, who has been adamant that he can and will continue to serve as mayor and run for reelection, while fighting the federal charges against him. Adams was charged with bribery, soliciting foreign campaign donations and wire fraud — among other charges — in the historic five count indictment, which he pleaded not guilty to last week.
The indictment alleges Adams solicited and accepted unreported gifts and illegal foreign campaign donations, which were concealed through straw donors and used to attain millions in public campaign matching funds, from Turkish nationals for nearly a decade. In exchange, prosecutors allege, the mayor helped expedite FDNY approvals for a Turkish consulate building that had not passed needed fire safety inspections.
If Adams does not resign, the poll results indicate that the governor should step in and oust him. Sixty-three percent of five borough residents say Gov. Kathy Hochul should move to force him out of office. Thirty-six percent do not think Hochul should remove him.
The governor has not indicated that she will imminently start the process of removing Adams, but reportedly told him to clean house of top aides who are under separate federal investigations in order to regain her confidence. Adams appears to be taking her advice, with the resignation of scandal-ridden aide Tim Pearson on Monday and the expedited exit of Schools Chancellor David Banks announced on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the poll found that majority of those residing in the five boroughs — 65% — think the mayor did something illegal, while 24% believe he did something unethical but not illegal. Only 8% think he did nothing wrong at all.
“Not only do New York City residents think he has done something illegal, but they think he should resign or have Governor Hochul start the process of removing him from office,” Miringoff said.
If those reviews were not bad enough, Adams’ job approval rating has also hit new lows. Just 26% of city residents approve of his job performance, while 74% disapprove. That is down from an often-cited Quinnipiac University poll late last year that gave Adams a 28% approval rating.
However, those polled are also not too excited about the prospect of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo running for mayor next year — something he has been rumored to be seriously considering. Fifty percent think Cuomo should not run for mayor in 2025 and 44% think he should.
