NEW POLL: Only 16% of Likely Voters in NYC Say They Would Vote for Mayor Eric Adams in Next Election
New York, NY – Between April 8th and 11th, the Manhattan Institute polled a representative sample of 700 likely voters in New York City’s 2025 mayoral election on their feelings about elected leaders, upcoming political contests, the state of the city, public safety, immigration, and various electoral reform proposals.
The results suggest a challenging climate for Mayor Eric Adams. There is broad—cross-party and cross-demographic—consensus among Gotham’s likely electorate that the mayor’s job performance is unsatisfactory and that the city is headed in the wrong direction, writes the Manhattan Institute’s director for external affairs, Jesse Arm. Respondents also say that crime persists as a major problem, inflows of migrants are cause for concern, and political change is needed—both in terms of NYC’s leadership and structural reforms to elections.
Asked who they would vote for in the next mayoral election, only 16% of likely voters choose Adams, with two-thirds saying they would vote for someone else. The mayor’s job approval rating is also extremely poor, coming in at 24%. Only 4% of likely voters in the city strongly approve of the mayor’s job performance, while 73% disapprove.
Much of the frustration with Mayor Adams likely stems from the strongly held sense that things in New York City are on the wrong track; almost seven-in-ten (68%) say so. This sentiment may be connected to feelings surrounding public disorder; 62% of likely voters feel that the city is less safe today than it was four years ago. Likewise, three-quarters of likely voters are concerned about the inflow of migrants to the city over the past two years.
Sample: The survey was conducted based on a sample drawn from the New York state voter file, then weighted back to the population on gender, age, college education, partisanship, race, and county. Responses were collected using mixed methods, including live landline calls (20%), live cell calls (30%), and SMS-to-web (50%). The poll’s margin of error is 3.7%.
Click here to read the full results.
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