In a hypothetical, nonpartisan special election, Cuomo would receive 22 percent of the vote, with city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive, capturing 15 percent of the city's 600 registered voters polled this month. Kathryn Garcia, who nearly won the mayoralty in 2021 and now works for Gov. Kathy Hochul, came in third with 12 percent in the Slingshot poll. (Cuomo, who comes from a political family, has by far the highest name recognition of the group.)
A plurality of voters — 35 percent — were undecided when presented with 12 candidates. Former GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who plans to run againhe got 9 percent as the only Republican in the Slingshot showdown.
For now, all these scenarios are a bit of fan fiction: Adams has vigorously defended himself and his campaign and is raising money for a 2025 re-election bid.
“Another day, another misleading poll, but this one from the same pollster who completely botched the 2021 mayoral race,” Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy said, referring to Slingshot's poll work on behalf of Andrew Yang's losing mayoral campaign. “Let's stop spreading false narratives of candidates who want to be that they will not be at the polls. Crime is down and jobs are up, and that's because Mayor Adams continues to give every day to the working people of this city, but to try to take down the city's second black mayor for blatant political purposes is shameful.” .
Cuomo, who has a 46-42 approval rating, would lead Williams by six points in the first round of a hypothetical ranked-choice vote, a system implemented two years ago that allows New Yorkers to select up to five candidates. In another, with fewer contenders, he would beat Williams in the first round by 11 points.
The former governor resigned from office after allegations of harassment, which he denies, were memorialized in a report by state Attorney General Letitia James. The old executive is still there very focused by vindicating himself: running a taxpayer-funded legal campaign to cast doubt on his accusers and present himself as a victim.
The poll was the second this week to deliver devastating news for Adams.
After a survey by Quinnipiac University found him receiving a record low approval rating of 28 percent, Slingshot found the mayor had a 37-56 job approval rating.
Despite the stark numbers, Adams' black voting base was much more supportive of him amid the FBI investigation. Half said the city's second black mayor should not resign if indicted and should instead wait for the legal process to play out. Most of all other racial groups thought otherwise. (Adams has said his campaign followed the law and is cooperating with the investigation.)
While Adams' approval numbers are better than those in the Quinnipiac poll earlier this week, the Slingshot results reflect similar findings — undercutting the City Council's attempts to paint Quinnipiac's results. as misleading.
Slingshot, for example, found low job approval ratings among Hispanic voters, who were crucial to the mayor's 2021 coalition. Only 35 percent of respondents approved of the job the mayor was doing, compared to 55 percent who disapproved.
These numbers were on par with white voters and those who identified as “other.”
Half of Hispanic voters also said Adams should be removed from office by the governor if he is indicted, the only racial subgroup that leans toward deportation.
Meanwhile, only 29 percent of Asian voters, another group heavily wooed by the Adams camp ahead of her landslide victory in 2021, approved of her job performance, compared to 62 percent who disapproved.
Adams also had low support among voters 55 and older, a crucial demographic within the Democratic Party.
A Slingshot representative said no one commissioned the private survey. Last month, Slingshot's Evan Roth Smith made waves when he marked with X a different poll assessing Cuomo's chances in a mayoral race. He wrote that he was “very confident” that Cuomo had ordered the survey.
The news comes as Adams struggles with the federal investigation.
FBI agents conducted a series of raids and interviews on Nov. 2 looking for evidence that the mayor's 2021 campaign colluded with the Turkish government and accepted illicit foreign donations .
No one has been charged in the investigation. But that hasn't stopped his political opponents from rallying in response to what they perceive as a weakened executive who is dogged by stories about his ties with Turkeyalong with New Yorkers' growing dissatisfaction with proposed budget cuts and housing costs.
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