NYC Mayor Eric Adams crushes Jumaane Williams, Brad Lander in potential primary: poll
Mayor Eric Adams would crush potential lefty challengers Jumaane Williams and Brad Landers if they sought to challenge his re-election bid in a 2025 Democratic primary, according to a new poll released Monday.
Adams leads Public Advocate Williams 45% to 25% with the rest of the 1,005 Democratic voters undecided, the Slingshot Strategies survey found.
The mayor captured 48 percent of Democrats to city Comptroller Lander’s 17% in a hypothetical match-up.
But in a generic ballot, only 42% said they support Adams and 38% said they’d consider another Democrat.
As for his popularity, 48% of voters view Adams favorably, 40% unfavorably.
Meanwhile, 51% approve of Adams’ job performance, while 41% disapprove.
“Adams is in OK shape,” said Slingshot founder Evan Roth Smith.
Adams has strong support among black voters, a key constituency in the Democratic primary.
Roth Smith described Williams and Lander as left–leaning Working Families Party types “who don’t have a broad base of support” compared to the more moderate Adams.
Still, there are warning signs for Adams.
Only 42% of the overall 1,500 voters surveyed from May 2 through 8 said the city is headed in the right direction while 46% said it’s on the wrong track.
One-third of voters identified crime and gun violence combined as the most serious concern, followed by 20% for inflation/jobs/economy and taxes, and 9% housing.
Adams, whose top campaign pledge was bolstering public safety, needs to show real results when he faces the voters again.
Pollster Roth Smith said there was a significant development in the poll: a shift of Asian voters away from the Democratic Party.
Asked about a generic vote for City Council, 48% of Asians said they would vote for a Democrat and 23% for a Republican with the rest undecided.
That means a majority of Asians did not identify with Democrats, the first time has happened, Roth Smith said.
“The trend of Asians voting Republican in local races is not slowing,” Roth Smith said.
The Slingshot survey queried 1,500 voters via text message and web panel from May 2-8 and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
There were 1,005 Democrats surveyed for primary election questions and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
