As early voting begins, self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani continues to lead the New York City mayoral race. Mamdani has pitched himself as the candidate who will \u201clower the cost of living for working-class New Yorkers.\u201d\u00a0The polls show that this message has an undeniable appeal.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a surprising tension between this message and his support in the primaries<\/a>. Working-class communities were the ones least<\/a> inclined to support Mamdani last June. His support was primarily driven by younger, highly educated, and higher-income New Yorkers like those profiled<\/a> in the New York Times last month.\u00a0To win, Mamdani needs support from the kind of people who voted for Cuomo in the primary, and may vote for him again in the general election.<\/p>\n Finally, a reason to check your email.<\/p>\n Sign up for our free newsletter today.<\/p>\n To understand the reluctance that working-class New Yorkers feel toward Mamdani and get a fuller picture of why many support Andrew Cuomo instead, I spent several hours on the ground in Cuomo strongholds in the Bronx. Some there told me that they distrusted the idea that anything can be \u201cfree\u201d without trade-offs and costs occurring elsewhere. Others cited the frontrunner\u2019s lack of experience and deficiencies in his proposals for public safety as their reasons for backing Cuomo or Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.<\/p>\n With the election fast approaching, the question may soon be: can Cuomo hold on to these voters, or will Mamdani coax them into his camp?<\/p>\n Dann Divine, originally from Ghana, West Africa, has resided in the Bronx for over 25 years. He loves his community and is skeptical about Mamdani\u2019s proposals for free universal buses and childcare and rent freezes. \u201cWe have to know why it\u2019s free,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause sometimes free is expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Divine suggested that, while Mamdani\u2019s slogans may resonate with voters, his proposals would do little to solve the underlying affordability issues. \u201cYou can\u2019t leave if it\u2019s free,\u201d he added, citing parallels he saw between socialism in America and in the Soviet Union, where his \u201cuncle used to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Divine\u2019s comments point to a broader recognition of the economic realities that \u201cfree\u201d goods and services entail. As I have documented, eliminating fares<\/a> for all passengers, freezing rents<\/a>, and introducing city-run grocery stores<\/a> would entail trade-offs, making limited funding less targeted and potentially undermining expansions of public transportation and housing.<\/p>\n Divine also raised concerns about public safety\u2014another major<\/a> issue in the race. \u201cThere was a time when we couldn\u2019t even be standing on the sidewalk here, walking or talking,\u201d said Divine, pointing to the public toilets farther down Fordham Road where vagrants and drug users used to gather. \u201cPublic safety can\u2019t be addressed through ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n A little later, I spoke to Pedro Rodriguez, also a resident of the South Bronx, who said he was highly concerned about \u201ccrime on the subways.\u201d While NYPD data show<\/a> that transit crime is now 13 percent below pre-pandemic levels, Rodriguez\u2019s comments point to a lingering perception of insecurity that many New Yorkers I spoke with feel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s has walked back<\/a> his repeated calls<\/a> to \u201cdefund the police.\u201d The mayoral hopeful has also pledged<\/a> to keep Jessica Tisch, the tough-on-crime commissioner of the NYPD, in her position. Whether these statements will reassure the working-class New Yorkers most affected<\/a> by crime remains to be seen. For now, both Divine and Rodriguez say they\u2019re supporting Cuomo.<\/p>\n Transit, crime, and doubts that socialism would address the cost of living came up time and again as I spoke with residents of the Bronx on Fordham Road and in Co-Op City. Both areas heavily<\/a> supported Cuomo in the primary.<\/p>\n Nel Raif, who said she works for the MTA, expressed concern that fare-free buses would \u201churt jobs\u201d by eliminating fares as a sustainable income stream.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people here are skeptical about socialism,\u201d she said, pointing both to Mamdani\u2019s lack of experience and to socialism\u2019s failures when implemented anywhere. New York also needs a mayor who will \u201cstop the violence\u201d occurring on public transportation.<\/p>\n Jason Torres echoed the concerns raised by Raif and others.<\/p>\n \u201cPoliticians know how to run a good campaign,\u201d he said, \u201cbut then they just sit in office.\u201d He added that \u201cMamdani\u2019s morals are a question mark,\u201d an allusion to the disconnect that voters feel between the candidates\u2019 messaging and what they feel will actually take place when in office.<\/p>\n Indeed, more than one Bronxite I approached told me that they no longer vote, pointing to a broader alienation that people feel from politics. New York\u2019s next mayor should see this situation as a call to implement policies driven by evidence of what actually works, rather than elevating process over outcomes.<\/p>\n Later that night, at a panel on the appeal of socialism among young people, I asked best-selling co-author of The Canceling of the American Mind<\/a>Rikki Schlott why socialism has failed to resonate for working-class communities like the South Bronx.<\/p>\n \u201cHandouts are sometimes not appealing to people,\u201d she said. \u201cThey seem a little bit patronizing, especially coming from those who went to private schools.\u201d<\/p>\n Economist Scott Linicome<\/a>, also on the panel, suggested that wealthier economic elites also tend to be isolated from many of the costs. \u201cThey have the lawyers and the accountants,\u201d he said, which, as a result, allows them to \u201cavoid a lot of onerous taxes and regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n To this we might add that over 30 percent<\/a> of Bronx residents were born outside the United States. Much of their reluctance about socialism may stem from having experienced it themselves.<\/p>\n Not everyone in the Bronx is against Mamdani. The candidate won a broad swath of the borough, according to<\/a> the New York Times, and wracked up some 36 percent<\/a> of the vote. That included voters with whom I spoke. And with the unions and much of the city\u2019s Democratic establishment now behind him, Mamdani may well consolidate his votes even in once-skeptical precincts.<\/p>\n