June 19, 2025
The Democratic primary for the next mayor of New York City will be held June 24, and of the nine candidates, only two capture the attention of the voters: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani; all the others draw single-digit responses.
The New York Times is refusing to endorse either candidate, though it saves its biggest salvos for Mamdani, the young Muslim who has never run anything. The newspaper says his idea of putting a freeze on rents will lead to a housing shortage, having government-owned and run grocery stores is a pipe dream, and it is wrong to sing the praises of former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. To this it could be added that Mamdani wants free child care, hates the police, and is stridently anti-Semitic.
It is because of these crazy ideas that Mamdani is embraced by radical New Yorkers. So who are these people?
A Marist poll taken last month reveals that in almost every demographic, the voters prefer Cuomo to the young socialist. No matter, Mamdani enjoys his biggest support from young people, whites, the affluent, college graduates, and those who have no religious affiliation.
Why is it that Mamdani, who wants to have free bus service, as well as supermarkets, receives his greatest support from those who can well afford to pay for these things? Why is it that those who can least afford to pay for food and bus fares are the least likely to support him? And why hasn’t anyone asked him to explain this apparent anomaly?
It’s really not that hard to figure out.
Young people have always been the most idealistic segment of the population, but these days they are drawn more to crackpot ideas than aspirational ones. It is no secret that wealthy white kids with a college degree have been drinking from the well of left-wing propaganda for some time—it’s called higher education—so naturally they like socialism, dislike religion, and are anti-cop.
The only problem for them is that non-white poor people don’t want their programs or their handwringing.
Most blacks and Hispanics still have common sense, and that’s because their views on public policy are shaped more by reality than ideology. By contrast, affluent white college-educated young people, who spent years in sterile classrooms where independence of thought was taboo, lack the daily experience that non-whites have interacting with real people from all walks of life. That’s not a small difference, and it has grave consequences.
It is also striking to learn from the poll that Cuomo, an accused womanizer, is liked more by women than men. Maybe that’s because the accusations against him are more minor than major, and are thus not decisive. If that is the case, then this line of attack on the former governor appears not to be working.
Most New Yorkers are liberal and will probably choose Cuomo as their lead choice. But a sizeable portion are radicals, and they will break for Mamdani. It is not out of the question that Brooklyn voters, who are by far the most radical, will try to rig the easy-to-rig ranked-choice voting system and pull off an upset. But if they fail, they will have to wait for the next riot to take place before they can make their mark again.
