On the heels of last week’s mayoral debate, the Andrew Cuomo campaign is certain that New Yorkers are ready to rally behind the former governor and vote to put him in City Hall — if one of his rivals drops out.
A new poll released Monday puts Cuomo within the margin of error against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in a head-to-head contest. The only problem? There’s a third man in the race.
The AARP and Gotham Polling & Analytics survey found Mamdani maintains a double-digit lead over Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. According to the poll, Mamdani holds roughly 43% support of would-be voters, while Cuomo sits at around 29% and Sliwa at 19%.
Mamdani does, in fact, lose some ground if Sliwa were to exit the race, the poll found. If that were to happen, Mamdani would grab 44.6% of voters over Cuomo’s 40.7%, resulting in a much tighter race.
“As New Yorkers see this reality, they’ll discard the spoiler Curtis Sliwa and rally behind Cuomo to save the city. Voters don’t buy Mamdani’s divisive, extreme politics or believe that a 34-year-old who’s never held a real job is ready to run the greatest city in the world,” Cuomo’s camp said in a statement Monday.
The debate over whether the Republican should drop out of the race has quickly become one of the loudest talking points on the campaign trail. Sliwa, for his part, is steadfast in his conviction he’s not going anywhere.
“I trust the people, they’ll make the decision,” he said at a campaign event. “I’m not dropping out.”
With just about 2 weeks to go until election day, a new poll from Gotham Polling/AARP has Democrat Zohran Mamdani holding his lead against Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race to become the next mayor of New York City. If Sliwa were to drop out of the race, that lead diminishes significantly, with Mamdani at 44.6% and Cuomo at 40.7%. #nyc #mamdani #cuomo #sliwa #politics
♬ original sound – NBC New York
Still, calls for Sliwa to get out of the race are now coming from within his own party. On Monday, Republican heavyweight John Catsimatidis joined the chorus of detractors trying to whittle down the competition.
“Curtis would make the best mayor of all the candidates… but Curtis has to realize that he should love New York more than anything else,” the businessman told Sid Rosenberg on WABC radio.
Sliwa isn’t without his supporters, however, especially among the higher ranks of his political party. A day after the GOP criticism, Republican leaders of all five boroughs jointly reaffirmed their support for the nominee.
“Republicans across every borough stand united behind Curtis Sliwa for Mayor of New York City,” the county chairs said in a joint statement. “In every neighborhood, volunteers have collected thousands of petition signatures and Curtis has raised millions from everyday New Yorkers, proof of a genuine grassroots movement that money cannot manufacture.”
The presumptive frontrunner in the three-man race also sounded off on the day’s political messaging.
“Andrew Cuomo is spending more time pleading with another candidate to drop out than making his case to New Yorkers as to why he would be the next mayor,” Mamdani said.
Even if Sliwa were convinced to drop out, his name would remain on the November ballot alongside previous drop-outs Jim Walden and Eric Adams.
All the back and forth comes less than a week before polls open for the General Election. Early voting begins on Saturday, Oct. 25.