[[link removed]]

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS ABOUT MAMDANI’S CANDIDACY  
[[link removed]]


 

Stewart Lawrence
August 13, 2025
CounterPunch
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Fear-mongering is built on a series of myths about how the
electorate in New York – and indeed, elsewhere –is likely to view
candidates like Mamdani. What are these myths? _

Zohran Mamdani, Wikipedia

 

Zohran Mamdani’s remarkable campaign for New York mayor has left the
Democratic party deeply divided. Moderates and conservatives like
James Carville and Chris Cuomo – brother of Mamdani’s reading
rival, former governor Andrew Cuomo – have all but denounced the
33-year old stature senator as a far-left lunatic that will doom the
party’s chances of rebounding from their crushing defeat by Donald
Trump last November.

Moderates are well aware that Mamdani is popular, especially with
young voters, but they fear his likely victory will stoke the
political ambitions of other democratic socialists in jurisdictions
where the electorate tilts more conservative. Sure he might eke out a
win in Deep Blue New York City – in fact, polls show him leading all
other candidates – but at what cost to Democrat chances in
Red-friendly districts in Ohio or North Carolina, they argue. This
kind of fear-mongering is built on a series of myths about how the
electorate in New York – and indeed, elsewhere –is likely to view
candidates like Mamdani. What are these myths?

MOST OF THE ELECTORATE WILL REJECT A SELF-PROCLAIMED “DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALIST”

Nonsense. Avowed socialist Bernie Sanders polled extremely well
against Donald Trump
[[link removed]] in
2016, besting him by 10 points (compared to just 5 points for Hillary
Clinton). In fact, polls
[[link removed]] conducted
as far back as 2015 – on the eve of Barack Obama’s departure from
office – showed that young voters were becoming quite attracted to
the idea of socialism, which they tended to associate with social
democratic policies pursued in Scandinavia – unlike older voters,
who still thought of socialism in terms of the Soviet Union, China and
communism. The polarization was sharp at the extremes of age, but not
in the middle. In fact, a near majority of voters in the broad 18-49
year old demographic – about 49% – had a generally positive view
of “socialism,” according to polling
[[link removed]] conducted
that year by YouGov.

And that was a full ten years ago, before COVID and the massive
economic disarray and job losses of 2020 began taking their toll.
Consider the very latest polls from May 2025, including a new You
Gov/Cato Institute poll
[[link removed]].
More than 6 in 10 young voters (62%) now say they embrace
“socialism” – a record high – and as older voters have watched
their Social Security and Medicare benefits come under attack –
their antipathy toward socialism – has also declined. Overall,
some 43% of all voters
[[link removed]] have
a favorable view of socialism, up from just 25% back in 2015. This is
not polling from New York or California – but from all US voters,
including the hard-hit American heartland and the
Republican-controlled South.

MAMDANI IS AN ANTI-SEMITE WHO WILL TURN OFF JEWISH VOTERS.

Mamdani’s opponents are clearly counting on the candidate’s
steadfast criticism of Israel and his passionate support for the
victims of the genocide in Gaza to drive away Jewish voters. But
it’s simply not happening. While the New York city area is home to
1.3 million Jews – second only to Tel Aviv, Israel – many share
Mamdani’s concern about Israel policies and the Trump
administration’s support for them. The latest poll
[[link removed]] sponsored
by Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions shows Mamdani leading
with 43% of New York’s Jewish voters, followed by 26% for Cuomo and
just 15% for Eric Adams. Mamdani’s Jewish support jumps to 67% among
Jewish voters in the 18-49 year old age bracket, where support for the
Palestinian cause is overwhelming.

Why are younger Jews so supportive? Research
[[link removed]] conducted
by Samuel J. Abrams at the conservative American Enterprise Institute
among Jewish college students gives the answer. “My recent research
[[link removed]] on
Jewish college students reveals that many progressive Jewish students
are reinterpreting what it means to be Jewish; traditional practices,
historical beliefs, and faith-based ideas and traditions are being
hollowed out for a more general, humanistic world view. For young,
progressive Jews, their identity is now defined less by faith and
traditional Jewish practices or solidarity with the state of Israel,
but more by universalist ethics, justice, and opposition to
oppression—wherever it occurs.”

Abrams is no Mamdani supporter, but he’s warning conservatives that
they are failing to comprehend a profound shift in the Jewish
electorate. “I find Mamdani’s ideas to be un-American and he has
regularly peddled anti-Semitic views making him unfit to be the mayor
of New York,” Abrams insists. “Regardless of my views, however, I
cannot write off the sentiments and the supporters he is
representing.” This is refreshing realism from a conservative
opponent that could bode well for Mamdani as he seeks to govern and
appease his Jewish supporters and critics alike.

MAMDANI WON’T ATTRACT AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOTERS, WHO ARE CRITICAL TO
PREVAILING IN NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS.

Cuomo did win a majority of the African-American vote during the
primary – the one minority group that swung sharply his way. Cuomo
won more than half of the votes in majority-Black precincts, while
Mamdani received about 34 percent. In those areas with more than 70
percent Black residents, Cuomo did even better, in fact. Black voters
constitute about a quarter of all New York City voters, according to a
June 2025 New York Times survey. Winning a sizable share of the Black
vote can make a big difference, and with more candidates in the
general election race, Mamdani may have some work to do.

But the Black vote in New York, like elsewhere, is no monolith. Here
again, age is likely to be a big factor. According to one primary
exit poll
[[link removed]],
about 70% of Black voters under 50 voted for Mamdani citywide. Another
poll places young Black support for Mamdani lower – but still above
50%. Young Black voters do not simply fall in line with the
traditional Black political leadership, which is closely aligned with
the Democratic party establishment. Black voters also include US-born
children of Black immigrants from other parts of the world – the
Caribbean and Africa – who are politically independent and looking
for change. Some young Black voters are tilting toward Trump and the
GOP further dividing the vote among the top candidates.

If Mamdani can continue to increase young Black voter turnout, he may
not need the older ones. And his surge of support among other minority
constituencies – including middle-class Asian Americans as well as
Hispanics – could well prove more decisive at the ballot box.

MAMDANI IS SOFT ON CRIME AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND HOSTILE TO LAW
ENFORCEMENT

Critics also believe that Mamdani’s past support for “defunding
the police” in the wake of highly-publicized police brutality
incidents like the George Floyd killing in 2020 could cost him
politically. But will it, in fact? Mayor Adams and Republican Curtis
Sliwa – both big boosters of law enforcement – are hoping to
stigmatize Mamdani as a “cop-hater” who will make it harder to
keep the city streets safe from dangerous criminals, including some
illegal immigrants. Adams and Sliwa do enjoy much stronger support
from the city’s public safety establishment – the NYPD and NYFD
– but the allegiance of New York’s nearly 50,000 uniformed police
officers and firefighters and their families is still up for grabs.

General voters, meanwhile, appear to bear no grudge toward Mamdani for
whatever past statements he might have made about law enforcement. In
fact, crime does not appear to be a top issue in New York City. A
recent poll by Emerson College asked voters to rank their top
concerns. Housing affordability, Mamdani’s core issue, ranked first,
followed by the economy, including jobs, inflation and taxes. Crime?
It ranked a distant third.

Violent crime in NYC has gone down substantially in recent years,
something Mayor Adams can take credit for, but which, paradoxically,
also serves to take the issue off the table, benefitting Mamdani. At
the same time, new revelations of high-level corruption within the
NYPD
[[link removed]] in
which Adams is now implicated, have tarnished the overall reputation
of law enforcement, further reducing whatever advantage the mayor
might try to claim on this issue.

As for immigration, it’s proven to be a potent issue in New York
State, favoring the GOP, just as it does nationwide, but not in New
York City, which is filled with immigrants from 150 different
countries. A whopping 38% of all New Yorkers are foreign-born –
about 3 million residents overall – and there is still broad support
among residents for New York’s status as a “sanctuary city.”
While there’s also growing support for enhanced immigration
enforcement, especially in conservative boroughs like Staten Island,
the fact that Trump’s ICE has moved so aggressively to deport
immigrants, including those with legal status, jeopardizing basic
civil rights, has produced enough of a political backlash to insulate
Mamdani from any criticism for publicly criticizing ICE and defending
lax enforcement.

It’s also critical to note that thanks to a proposed 2021 law, which
now faces a legal challenge, even non-citizen immigrants – about 1.2
million total – are eligible to vote in New York city elections. The
outcome of this court case could be another factor favoring Mandani in
November. The very fact that such a law is under consideration is a
clear indication of how supportive New Yorkers overall remain of the
city’s burgeoning immigrant population.

CONCLUSION

Mamdani has an extraordinary opportunity to capture the Mayor’s
office in November. Much of what critics are saying would seem to
limit his political appeal with “mainstream” city voters, but the
results of the primary election – general election polling ever
since – strongly suggest otherwise. Mamdani enjoys several major
advantages.

_His two leading opponents are both heavily tarnished by scandal,
reducing whatever advantage they might otherwise enjoy as
tried-and-true leaders with demonstrated track records. Mamdani is a
fresh face and a political neophyte – but that’s not hurting him,
it’s helping, especially with so many voters of the same generation
or younger that increasingly dominate the electorate. New Yorkers want
change, and Mamdani is the candidate of change. This is a “change”
election._

_Mamdani is focusing his campaign on the kitchen table issue that
matters most to New Yorkers – affordability. That includes the
affordability of housing and food, the items vital to basic survival.
His declared solutions – a rent “freeze” and the establishment
of government-run grocery stores – are easy to attack but they
demonstrate that he is willing to take forceful action to limit the
damage caused by an unbridled free market. Will he be forced to
compromise if he wins? Undoubtedly, but these issues play extremely
well with voters during a campaign, especially when his opponents have
offered no policies of their own to address the same concerns._

_Mamdani’s command of social media tactics, including the use of
short videos in multiple languages geared to distinct ethnic Asian and
Muslim communities has provided an outreach and messaging advantage
unmatched by Cuomo or Adams. GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa has recently
marveled at Mamdani’s communications skills, noting that only an
all-out grassroots effort by his rivals is likely to blunt his march
toward victory. Sliwa, as the long-time head of the Guardian Angels,
an informal police auxiliary force, enjoys street “cred” with some
New Yorkers of various ethnicities, but, at 71, is probably too “old
school” to compete with Mamdani in the absence of a more
well-organized and better funded campaign apparatus._

_It’s also worth noting that New York’s powerful economic and
political elites are not unified in their opposition to Mamdani.
Mamdani, rather brilliantly, has reached out proactively to business
groups to hear and respond to their concerns, if only to deflect their
ability to coalesce against him. Several major corporate leaders –
like Jewish leaders – have spoken out publicly against Mamdani but
they are keenly aware that their chances of defeating him are
declining rapidly. Early efforts to coalesce a major fundraising
effort to back Cuomo or Adams have already foundered, in part because
neither man is willing to bow out in favor of the other. Sliwa has
name recognition but no elective experience, and is unlikely to emerge
as a dark horse alternative._

The upshot? Far from threatening Democrats’ political chances in the
future, Mamdani’s campaign should be viewed as a powerful catalyst
for debate over how the party can adapt itself to local opportunities
and get back in the game against Trump and the GOP. There are some
unique elements to the New York race that offer unusually favorable
terrain for a rogue democratic socialist – who literally emerged out
of nowhere – to capture the political leadership of the world’s
financial capital. It’s a diehard blue city in a decidedly Blue
state; the established Democratic leadership is heavily tarnished; and
young voters and politically aware immigrants have emerged as a
cutting-edge demographic and electoral force. But some of these same
elements are present in other jurisdictions, and Mamdani’s campaign
success is pregnant with lessons for Democrats elsewhere. Above all,
by focusing on bread-and-butter affordability issues – and
downplaying if not ignoring culture war issues – both of which
proved to be the Achilles Heel of the Biden/Harris campaign, Mamdani
has demonstrated that Democrats can tap into deep discontent with the
status quo and with the policies of both major parties. Technically a
Democrat, Mamdani is downplaying his own party affiliation and
presenting himself as a vibrant force for change who can meet voters
where they are, and who can listen without lecturing.

Make no mistake, a Mamdani victory in November is no slam dunk. There
are some troubling warning signs in recent polling that suggest that
Mamdani is nowhere near capturing 50% of the NYC electorate. If he
expects to prevail, in the face of a massive billionaire-funded
propaganda offensive after Labor Day, he has his work cut out for him.
And even if he does win, that will just be the beginning. Mamdani will
need to avoid the crippling governing mistakes that other recent
grassroots change candidates – like Brandon Johnson in Chicago – 
[[link removed]]have
committed once they assumed office. The goodwill and wait-and-see
attitude that greets such candidates at the outset can quickly
dissipate as the high expectations from supporters and opponents alike
clash with the need for coalition building with diverse city
stakeholders. Mamdani, post-victory, will need to “step up” to the
next level and be willing to disappoint as well as inspire. His
unusual willingness to listen and learn could prove to be his greatest
leadership asset. It could demonstrate that progressives at the local
level can actually do the hard work of governing where stodgy and
corrupt establishment figures, for all their vaunted experience, have
failed.

_Stewart Lawrence is a long-time Washington, DC-based policy
consultant.  He can be reached
at [email protected].  _

* Zohran Mamdani
[[link removed]]
* myths
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]