Less than a week before early voting is set to begin in the Democratic and Republican primaries for NYC mayor, Eric Adams is leading the most recent poll — which was conducted before AOC endorsed one of the other Democratic candidates. NBC New York’s Andrew Siff reports.
Tuesday marks two weeks until the New York City mayoral primary and with Democratic frontrunners continuing to swap poll positions, who might come out on top is still anyone's guess.
"When I win, you win," Eric Adams said to a crowd in Queens on Monday after leading the latest poll out days before voting begins.
"I don't watch the polls. I don't allow my team to talk to me about the polls," Adams said.
The NY1 survey shows Adams leading by six points over Andrew Yang with a surging Kathryn García in third place, ahead of Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, Dianne Morales, Ray Maguire and Shaun Donovan -- 16% still undecided.
"At this state the only poll that we're concerned with is the early vote that's going to start in five days," Yang said Monday, adding that he's not worried about not longer being considered the frontrunner.
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The poll, however, was conducted before Wiley won a high-profile endorsement over the weekend from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a New York Times interview from a second woman accusing Scott Stringer of sexual misconduct.
"It bestows the progressive mantle on Wiley. The question is: is that enough? " Doug Muzzio of Baruch College said Monday. "It is ambiguous, it's making me crazy."
Analysts like Muzzio predict a photo finish in the race for mayor — but say that the pivotal factor could be turnout.
Mayoral Debates
On the issues, the top concern for voters remains public safety, according to the polls.
Adams initially accused Wiley and AOC of a too-liberal lean, which he called dangerous for the city amid a spike in shootings. Adams softened that attack on Monday.
“Listen, I take my hat off to AOC — her mother cleaned houses, my mother cleaned houses — we know what struggle is," Adams said. On Wiley, he said, "The difference between the two of us: they only have a prevention plan."
Wiley's campaign made stops in the Bronx where the candidate also pledged to stop the rise in violence without current tactics, like the NYPD's use of riot gear last weekend to kick crowds out of Washington Square Park.
"You can't stop and frisk your way out of gun violence," she said.
"I am the only candidate in this race that has a true position for police reform," Wiley said on Morning Joe, where she said that Adams attacked her campaign "because we are calling on investing in communities."
A lot is still in play with two weeks left until polls close on June 22. Even the man who currently holds the office they are all vying for, Mayor bill de Blasio, agreed that the race is wide open, with so many New Yorkers still undecided.
"I honestly believe a lot of people will decide on the last day or two," he said, calling this the contest this year "probably the most fluid mayor's race I've seen in my life."
