Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s support among Jewish voters has collapsed to historic lows, with a new poll showing 40 percent rating his performance poor and only 32 percent approving of his job, as antisemitic hate crimes across the city accelerated 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026.
The Jewish Majority poll surveyed 665 Jewish voters from across the political spectrum who participated in November’s mayoral election. Of those surveyed, 82 percent expressed concern about rising antisemitism in the city. Among the concerned, 73 percent directly attributed the increase to Mamdani and other public figures normalizing anti-Zionism.
From January through March, the NYPD reported 143 hate crimes citywide, with 78 incidents—55 percent of the total—targeting Jews. Attacks included physical assaults and vandalism, including swastikas painted on playground equipment in Brooklyn.
The polling data reveals sharp divides between the mayor and his Jewish constituents on core issues. Sixty-one percent of Jewish voters said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” has emboldened pro-Hamas protesters. Nineteen percent disagreed, with the remainder undecided.
Even among the 174 Jewish voters surveyed who cast ballots for Mamdani in November, 84 percent support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a position the mayor has repeatedly avoided endorsing. The same proportion, 84 percent, backed legislation approved by the City Council in March allowing the NYPD to establish protective buffer zones around synagogues. Mamdani and other socialist council members opposed the measure.
In the general election, Mamdani captured 31 percent of the Jewish vote, historically low for a Democratic mayoral candidate in New York City. Exit polling showed stronger support among younger voters, with 44 percent of Jewish voters ages 18 to 29 backing him.
Mamdani has endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, publicly accused Israeli forces of committing genocide in Gaza, and maintains associations with pro-Palestinian activists including Hasan Piker and Linda Sarsour.
The mayor’s wife, Rama Duwaji, faced criticism in recent weeks after resurfaced social media posts showed she had liked content praising Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israel and claiming Hamas’s assaults on women during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre were a “mass hoax.”
The mayor’s office defended his 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,” said Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
“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,” Wisdom added.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
