Less than a third of NYC Jewish voters think socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing a good job — and most link the Big Apple’s rising antisemitism to Hizzoner and his comrades mainstreaming anti-Zionism, a new poll shows.
Forty percent of Jews who voted in last year’s mayoral race think Mamdani is doing a “poor” job, 32% rate his performance “excellent” or “good,” 18% say he’s doing a “fair” job, and the rest are undecided, according to The Jewish Majority poll exclusively provided to The Post.
The advocacy group’s poll also shows a whopping 82% of Jewish voters – including two-thirds who voted for Mamdani – are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the rise in antisemitism.
And of those concerned, 73% attribute the spike to Mamdani and other public figures “normalizing” anti-Zionism, so it’s more widely accepted publicly.
“This data validates something felt in the Jewish community for a long time: a sense that antisemitism is really spiraling out of control. . . . and also how strongly people link that to the normalization of anti-Zionism,” The Jewish Majority executive director Jonathan Schulman told The Post. “I think this is a real kind of a wake-up point here.”
There were 143 reported hate crimes in NYC from January through March — a 11.7% increase from the same period last year. Seventy-eight — or 55% — of them targeted Jews and included acts of violence and swastikas scrawled on walls, according to the NYPD.
The poll — conducted Feb. 17-28 — surveyed 665 Jewish voters from all political parties who cast votes in the mayoral election, including 174 who voted for Mamdani. Other findings:
- Sixty-one percent of Jewish voters believe Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” has emboldened pro-Hamas protestors, 19% disagree and the rest are undecided.
- Eighty-four percent of Jews who voted for Mamdani support a two-state solution in Gaza if it resolves the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mamdani has repeatedly skirted the two-state-solution question but has said he doesn’t think Israel should exist as a Jewish state.
- Eighty-four percent also support legislation approved in March by the City Council allowing the NYPD to set up buffer zones around synagogues and other houses of worship. Council Speaker Julie Menin championed the bill in response to anti-Israel protesters swarming local synagogues — despite fierce opposition from Mamdani and other socialists.
Mamdani captured only 31% of the Jewish vote during November’s general election, but he fared better with Jewish voters ages 18 to 29, securing 44% of their support, according to exit polls.
The mayor supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Jewish state, has accused Israelis of committing genocide in Gaza, and associates with notorious, Israel-hating left-wing radicals such as Hasan Piker and Linda Sarsour.
Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, has also come under fire for recently resurfaced social media posts she liked, praising Palestinian militants’ attacks against Israel and claiming Hamas’ rapes of Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack were a “mass hoax.”
“I think that such a large percentage of Jews in New York City didn’t support the Democratic candidate is unprecedented,” noted Schulman. “While [Mamdani] makes the comment constantly ‘I’m the mayor for all New Yorkers,’ unfortunately, Jewish New Yorkers don’t seem convinced that’s the case.”
Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, defended Hizzoner’s record with the Jewish community.
“Since taking office, Mayor Mamdani has made it a priority to consistently show up for and build relationships across New York City’s Jewish communities — listening to a diverse array of Jewish voices, celebrating holidays, and engaging with the full richness of Jewish life across neighborhoods and traditions,” she said.
“He also shares the concerns many Jewish New Yorkers have about the rise of antisemitism. That is why every day, we are working to protect and support Jewish New Yorkers— including developing the nation’s first municipal-level plan to combat antisemitism.”
