Latest poll numbers show Eric Adams leading in NYC mayoral race, with Kathryn Garcia not far behind
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams again came out on top in a new poll about mayoral candidates.
The retired NYPD captain got support from 24% of likely voters in the June 22 Democratic primary, according to the NBC/Telemundo/Politico survey released Monday. Marist College conducted the poll from June 3 to 9.
Adams, a moderate campaigning on a tough-on-crime approach, has led the race for weeks while the city’s uptick in violent crime has dominated local headlines.
Former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia came in second, with support from 17% of respondents. She was recently endorsed by the editorial boards of the Daily News and the New York Times, and had support from 28% of survey respondents in Manhattan.
Garcia has been contending the packed mayoral primary has become a “two-person race” between her and Adams.
“It’s not up to Kathryn; it’s not up to Eric,” Adams said at a Monday campaign event when asked about Garcia’s take. “It’s not up to any candidate in the race to determine what the voters are going to do.”
The new poll took into account the debut of ranked-choice voting, in which voters will list candidates in order of preference, instead of picking just one.
If no one wins more than 50% of ballots outright, a process of elimination ensues. People who ranked the last-place candidate first get their number-two choices counted toward those candidates’ totals, instead. The reallocations continue until a winner reaches the necessary threshold.
According to the new survey, it takes Adams 12 rounds to prevail.
“This is just yet another poll that reaffirms what we have seen since the start of the election: Eric Adams has the broadest support of any candidate in the race,” his campaign spokesperson Madia Coleman crowed in a statement.
Coming in third in the poll was Maya Wiley, who had support from 13% of respondents. The former top legal aide to Mayor de Blasio recently got a boost from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — and a slew of other progressives, who ditched city Comptroller Scott Stringer over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Thirteen percent of voters said they were undecided. Businessman Andrew Yang had backing from 13% of likely voters and Stringer, 7%.
Former HUD Secretary under Obama, Shaun Donovan polled at 3%, as did ex-Citigroup executive Ray McGuire and former nonprofit CEO Dianne Morales.
With Tim Balk
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