- Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won Tuesday's mayoral race with strong support from younger, progressive and newly arrived New Yorkers, according to exit polls.
- Despite his working-class platform, middle- and upper-middle-income voters powered Mamdani’s victory while poorer and richer residents favored Cuomo.
- Mamdani dominated many affluent, gentrified neighborhoods, and Cuomo led in Staten Island, lower Brooklyn, and northern Queens.
Zohran Mamdani received strong support from young college graduates, particularly young women, exit polls show, with 84% of 18-29 year old women supporting the winner of the New York City mayor’s race.
Mamdani won Tuesday’s election with 50% of the vote, besting former Democratic governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, who brought in about 42%.
Mamdani identifies himself as a democratic socialist and has promised New Yorkers rent freezes, free buses, no-cost child care and city-owned grocery stores.
While these promises are seemingly geared toward the working class, it was Cuomo who ultimately won the support of the city’s poorest residents, according to early analysis of poll results.
According to CNN exit polls, Mamdani won the majority of adults who earn between $30,000 and $299,999, annually. Those poorer and richer than that favored Cuomo.
Cuomo was also ahead of Mamdani among New Yorkers without a college degree. Voters with bachelors or graduate degrees favored Mamdani by almost 20 points.
Mamdani did well among recent Big Apple move-ins. He won 85% of voters who had been there for five years or less, and his support decreased consistently as residency lengthened.
Cuomo received higher support among lifelong New Yorkers.
Who were Mamdani’s strongest voters?
Non-Christian, non-religious, and LGBT voters were almost among the most likely to vote for Mamdani, according to exit polling.
Mamdani’s voters said they cared the most about New York City’s cost of living, while Cuomo’s voters were more focused on crime and immigration.
Mamdani’s voters were much more likely to say that crime was not an issue where they lived.
Cuomo and Mamdani brought in about the same number of votes from straight voters. But of the 14% of voters who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, a large majority — 82% — voted for Mamdani. Only 15% voted for Cuomo.
Further, 85% of those who identify as democratic socialists voted for Mamdani.
Broken down by demographics, Mamdani won 70% of male Democrats, 63% of female Democrats, 6% of male Republicans and 2% of female Republicans. He also won about 43% of the independent vote.
Cuomo, on the other hand, won 72% of all male Republicans, 74% of female Republicans, 27% of male Democrats and 35% of female Democrats. Cuomo also narrowly beat Mamdani in the independent vote with 46%.
What areas of New York did the majority of Mamdani’s voters live in?
While Cuomo won a majority of voters in Staten Island, lower Brooklyn and northern Queens, Mamdani dominated central and northern Brooklyn, the Bronx, Harlem and lower Queens.
In Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, 82% of the vote went to Mamdani. The neighborhood’s average home value is $1.3 million, and the average individual income is about $83,694.
In Morningside Heights, which is just northwest of Central Park, Mamdani earned 73% of the vote. There, the median home value is $1.1 million, and the average individual income is $86,218. About 40% of residents in this neighborhood are foreign born, which is 1.5 times higher than the average New York rate, according to U.S. Census data.
In Jamaica Hills in Queens, Mamdani won 74% of the vote. The neighborhood’s average home value is $872,000, and the average household income is $105,490. A little over 40% of residents in Jamaica Hills are U.S.-born citizens, 37% are foreign-born citizens, and 21% are non-citizens, per the U.S. Census.
In Greenpoint, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Mamdani won 77% of the vote. In 2025, the median age in the neighborhood was 35, the median sale price was $1.8 million, and the average individual income was $77,646.