Image Credit: Andres Kudacki / Stringer / Getty Images 
Radical leftist Zohran Mamdani’s lead in the New York mayoral race has shrunk to its narrowest margin since July, according to a new poll.
Mamdani, on 40.6%, is now just 6.6 points ahead of his nearest rival, Andrew Cuomo, AtlasIntel reported on Saturday.
“The gap is closing fast — we can feel it on the ground everywhere from the Bronx to Staten Island. At this rate, we win the race. Keep going strong,” Cuomo said.
“Six points in this election is nothing,” the former governor later told reporters while campaigning Saturday in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Cuomo went on to say that New Yorkers have “found out” his radical opponent, realizing that his policy promises, which include rent freezes and free public transport, simply won’t work.
“What has happened is, in the primary, Zohran got away with his TikTok band, and a smile, whatever he said, he smiled, and he had his slogans, ‘freeze the rent,’ ‘free buses,’ ‘free food,’ and that was enough,” said Cuomo.
“What has happened since is people have [found] out what he’s about, and there is no free food, and there are no free buses, and he can’t raise corporate taxes statewide and dedicate it to New York. That can’t happen.”
Andre Roman, CEO of AtlasIntel, said that Cuomo’s chances have been hampered by his past record as state governor, but fear among moderates about Mamdani’s radical policies is motivating them to come out and vote against him.
“From not being inspirational to being really hated and terrifying people – that’s a major difference. That’s what’s happening with Mamdani,” he said.
“I think Cuomo’s chance in this election is to mobilize an anti-Mamdani vote within mostly the moderate Democratic base that voted for him in the primary but also with independents and Republicans and also mobilize a strategic vote by some of Sliwa’s voters,” he added.
Curtis Sliwa, the third candidate, achieved his best showing so far in the new poll, 24.1%. If he dropped out of the race, as many have urged him to do, Cuomo would lead Mamdani 50% to 42%, according to the poll.
Other polls last week showed Mamdani with a much more commanding lead over his opponents.
A Fox News poll on Thursday had Mamdani leading Cuomo 47% to 31% and an Emerson poll showed an even greater margin, 50% to 25%.
There has already been record turnout for the mayoral election, with nearly half a million casting early ballots.
