Photo: AFP
A new Marist poll indicates that Andrew Cuomo is still clearly the front-runner to capture the Democratic nomination to run for New York City mayor in the June primary. The poll has the former governor sitting atop the field at 37%. That’s double the support for Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani; the State Assembly member has 18%, followed by City Council speaker Adrienne Adams at 9%. Mayor Eric Adams does not turn up in the poll, as he is running as an independent in November’s general election. Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to discuss the poll’s relevancy with the primary election now less than six weeks away.
As Curran told host Larry Mendte, Cuomo’s track record and name recognition may help him with voters who think he can fix the city’s problems. “People who vote want their problems solved by the government, and they’re going to vote for the person they think are going to solve them, and so, what are the problems in New York City right now? There’s infrastructure problems, which he’s obviously very good at fixing, and the homeless and mentally ill people on the streets and in the subways is another big issue, and that’s something he’s really focused on and come out with plans about and has experience doing… I think a lot of people might think maybe he’s not going to be my best friend, but I think he can do what he needs to do to help the city.”
With ranked choice voting being introduced to the election process this year, Curran says Cuomo may get a further boost when the voters turn out: “Ranked-choice voting is still relatively new, and it’s hard to figure out how it’s going to work, but if he’s a lot of people’s second choice, that could be really good for him… [plus] there’s a lot of people running for that progressive lane. They’re going to divide that vote and I think that’s actually going to be very good for Cuomo as the moderate.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images