The race for New York City mayor has tightened considerably — with ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo cutting front-runner Zohran Mamdani’s lead in half from a month ago, according to a new poll.
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, now leads Cuomo, running as an independent, just 44% to 34% among the likely Big Apple voters, the Suffolk University survey found.
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is in third place with 11% support.
But Mamdani had a 20-point lead over Cuomo in Suffolk University’s prior poll conducted in September.
It’s Suffolk’s first survey since Mayor Eric Adams completely dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Cuomo.
Cuomo is now running roughly even among Hispanics after trailing Mamdani by 30 points in that demographic in the September poll.
He leads among independents by 10 points, a dramatic flip from a month ago, when he trailed Mamdani by 18 points among non-party-affiliated voters.
Seven percent of voters are still undecided and the four other candidates whose names are on the ballot garner 2% support combined.
Sliwa remains a factor in the race. He and Cuomo are splitting the anti-Mamdani vote, making it harder to defeat the democratic socialist Queens assemblyman.
Many of Sliwa’s voters would back Cuomo if the red-beret clad Guardian Angels founder were not in the race, the poll found.
“There is one person in New York City whose voters could have an outsized impact on the outcome,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
“That person isn’t Mayor Eric Adams, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Chuck Schumer, or any New York billionaire. It’s Republican Curtis Sliwa, whose voters hold the 11% blocking Cuomo from winning the race,” he said.
When Sliwa voters are asked about their second choice, 36% selected Cuomo and only 2% Mamdani, the poll said.
The Suffolk U. telephone survey of 500 likely general election voters was conducted from Thursday through Sunday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Other candidates listed on the ballot are Adams, who recently endorsed Cuomo, Conservative Party nominee Irene Estrada, and independents Joseph Hernandez and Jim Walden.
Monday is the third of nine days of early voting preceding the Nov. 4 election.
