Voters Think Priority of Next Mayor should be Crime and Public Safety
A new Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey of New York City’s Democratic Primary for Mayor finds former Governor Andrew Cuomo with 38% support, a five-point increase from February. Zohran Mamdani follows at 10%, a nine-point increase from February, followed by Mayor Eric Adams at 8%, a two-point decrease from last month, Jessica Ramos at 6%, Brad Lander at 6%, Scott Stringer at 5%, and Adrienne Adams at 4%. Seventeen percent are undecided.
“With about three months until the Democratic Primary, Governor Cuomo has emerged as the top candidate in the race, with no clear alternative emerging among Democratic voters,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said.
“Cuomo’s support generally increases as voters’ age increases, going from 21% among voters under 30 to 44% of voters over 70. Ramos and Mamdani split the youth vote (under 30) at 16% each,” Kimball added. “Black and Hispanic voters are behind Cuomo at 47% and 45% support.”
In a hypothetical general election with Eric Adams running as an independent candidate, 43% would vote for Cuomo, 13% for a hypothetical Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, 11% for Mayor Adams, and 4% for independent Jim Walden.
A majority of voters (63%) would like to see the next Mayor stand up to Trump, while 28% would rather see the Mayor work with Trump. Nine percent are unsure.
A third of voters think the next Mayor’s priority should be public safety and crime, while 23% think it should be housing, 10% the migrant crisis, 7% healthcare, 6% homelessness, 5% jobs, and 4% education.
A plurality of voters (46%) in the city think it should remain a sanctuary city, while 34% think the city should repeal its sanctuary laws. Nineteen percent are unsure.
“All age groups think NYC should remain a sanctuary city rather than repeal sanctuary laws, though intensity to remain is higher among voters under 40 and over 70, at 50% each, ” Kimball said.
The cost of housing is the biggest economic stressor to New York City voters, at 35%, followed by the cost of household items and groceries, at 29%, and taxes (15%).
“Voters under 40 are most concerned about the cost of housing, 54% name the cost of housing to be their biggest economic stressor, which decreases with age, to 15% of those over 70,” Kimball said.
A plurality of voters (48%) think the subway system in New York City is becoming less safe, while 20% think it is becoming more safe, and 32% believe it is staying the same.
Voters are split on whether congestion pricing should continue in New York City: 44% think it should not continue, 42% think it should continue and 14% are unsure.
“White voters are most supportive of congestion pricing continuing, at 51%, while Black and Asian voters oppose it most strongly at 53% and 52% respectively,” Kimball noted.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling New York City survey was conducted March 21-24, 2025. The sample of New York registered voters, n=1,000, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3 percentage points. The sample of Democratic Primary voters includes n=653, with a credibility interval of +/-3.8%. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, and region based on 2025 voter turnout modeling.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting cell phones via MMS-to-web text and landlines via Interactive Voice Response (phone list provided by Aristotle), along with an online panel of voters provided by CINT. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code; responses that were not matched to a unique NYC voter were removed from the final data set. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with the exact wording and ordering, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found under Full Results. This survey was funded by Emerson College/Nexstar Media.
