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The first of two debates in the New York mayoral race took place Thursday night as Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa took turns trading barbs and hoping to convince the handful of undecided potential voters to get behind their case to run the largest city in the country- but how many of those potential voters saw the debate in the first place? 710 WOR’s Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore went to Rockefeller Center, where the debate went down, to ask people what they thought for 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program. The most common response she heard went along the lines of “I didn’t see it, but I know who I’m voting for”.
Migliore found one voter who can’t bring himself to vote for Mamdani, even though he is a registered Democrat, because the front-runner couldn’t bring himself to denounce the terrorist group Hamas on the record: “I’m still disturbed by Zohran Mamdani’s inability to condemn Hamas. As a Jewish New Yorker who’s always been a Democrat, this is very disturbing to me, that this is the direction that we’re going. So I’m still behind Andrew Cuomo, flaws and all.”
In heavily-Democratic New York, the “vote for Cuomo” plan to derail Mamdani’s chances seems to have its supporters, such as that previous man: “You know, vote blue, no matter who. I guess that philosophy is holding strong with a lot of people, and I understand. People want to push against the Trump agenda, but I just don’t think this is the way to do it.”
Another voter decided the experience factor is enough for him to pick up the standard and vote for Cuomo: “It’s good for young people to get out there, but I prefer to put my money where the experience is, okay. I know that’s going to guarantee a future for the working people. I know what he’s saying, but America is not ready for socialism.”
Migliore did find one woman who still doesn’t have a candidate, although she does have a cause: “As a New Yorker who’s lived here all my life, something has got to be done because this city is going down, especially when it comes to the homeless. We really have got to do a better job with the homeless.”
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