New York City Mayoral Election: Andrew Cuomo Leads in Polls Even Though He Hasn't Announced His Candidacy Yet

New York City recently elected a dog mayor. The election race was very dramatic.. And what's going on with the election of a real mayor of New York in 2025, says AMNYAccording to polls, the leader is a person who has not even announced his candidacy yet.

The polls show former Governor Andrew Cuomo easily beating all declared Democratic candidates, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. And this is despite the fact that Cuomo has not yet announced his candidacy.

A Honan Strategy Group poll released on February 3 found Adams less popular among respondents than US President Donald Trump.

Voter survey

Cuomo, a Queens native, resigned as governor in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal. He has always denied the allegations. Cuomo is rumored to be considering a mayoral run, but has yet to formally announce it.

However, a Honan Strategy Group poll of 769 likely voters in the New York Democratic primary conducted Jan. 23-26 found Cuomo leading other Democrats by 25 points.

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The former governor had the support of more than a third of those polled (35%), 10 percentage points ahead of current City Comptroller Brad Lander. He was followed by Mayor Adams and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who each received 9% of voter support. One in five voters (20%) said they were unsure who to vote for.

The Democratic mayoral primary is a ranked-choice contest, in which voters determine the top five candidates for mayor. Simulating such a vote, the Honan Group poll found that Cuomo would win on the sixth ballot with 58%, while incumbent Mayor Adams would drop out after the fifth round.

Still "premature"

Despite high poll numbers, Cuomo has yet to announce his candidacy.

Rich Azzopardi, founder and CEO of Bulldog Strategies and a longtime Cuomo aide and ally, said on Feb. 3 that talk of a Cuomo mayoral run remains "premature."

He noted that the poll results reflect the strength of the governor's previous record.

"It's all still early, but Andrew Cuomo will always be a guy from Queens who loves New York and is willing to help New York in any way he can," Azzopardi said.

Still, the clock is ticking. The former governor may run in the Democratic mayoral primary, which is June 24. Petitions for the contest and other races on the ballot will be due in March.

Key questions

Cuomo has previously scored highly in polls conducted in recent weeks. A December poll by Progressives for Democracy in America showed the former governor leading the field by 22 points.

The Honan Strategy Poll found that voters have more confidence in Cuomo than other candidates in the Democratic primary on a range of issues. More than a third of voters said they trust Cuomo more than anyone else to fight crime, make New York City safer, stand up to the Trump administration, end the migrant crisis, create jobs and grow the economy, improve overall quality of life, and improve the MTA.

Crime, quality of life and affordability were the three issues survey respondents said were most important to them.

Name recognition also helped Cuomo in the poll, with monitoring showing that 50% of respondents had a positive view of his candidacy.

Too close to Trump

However, the current mayor Adams has a very different picture. His term has been marred by scandal and federal criminal charges, which Trump's Justice Department may remove.

Honan found that 83 percent of those polled had an unfavorable view of the incumbent mayor. 81 percent of the electorate disliked President Trump. Nearly two-thirds of voters (64 percent) said they viewed moderate Adams as too closely aligned with the right-wing president.

In recent months, Adams has taken a more measured and cooperative stance toward the 47th president, amid speculation that he might seek clemency. The mayor previously met with Trump in Palm Beach ahead of the president’s inauguration on Jan. 20 at the Capitol. Adams was there.

75% of respondents believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. Honan Strategy described the mood of voters as “mostly negative.” Of those, 80% said they were concerned about crime; 70% said they were afraid of the future; 66% rated the city government as bad; 45% said they would leave New York if things got worse.