Eric Adams Shoots to the Top of The Pack, Latest Poll Shows

By Yehudit Garmaise 

     Mayoral candidate Eric Adams, who is Brooklyn’s borough president, has soared to the front of his seven competitors, easily overtaking Andrew Yang, who has never held public office, according to the latest Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll.

     The poll, which surveyed 906 likely Democratic voters from May 17 to 31,  found Adams, a former state senator, far ahead with 22% of the support of likely Democratic voters, while Yang earned only 16%, who up until recently had been enjoying his frontrunner status, until he started slipping in the polls.

     Two debates and months of time to better get to know the candidates are helping undecided voters to make their choices as to their first choices for mayor. 

      While in April, 26% of likely voters said they were still undecided as to which mayoral candidate they would support, in May, only 16% of voters are still undecided.

      Katherine Garcia is still reaping the benefits of her endorsements by both the New York Times and the New York Daily News, as the former sanitation commissioner showed a huge jump to 15%, which is an impressive leap from her last place finish in April in the same poll, when only 4% of voters said they supported her.

     Following Garcia,  10% of New York voters supported Comptroller Scott Stringer, while 9% said they supported Maya Wiley, the poll found.

    On Shabbos, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Wiley, who served as a lawyer for Mayor Bill de Blasio and now works as a legal analyst on MSNBC.

    Adams, who served in the NYPD for 22 years and has made decreasing ever-surging crime rates and prioritizing public safety his Number One issue, responded to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s support for Wiley by calling into question her ability to control and reduce crime.

    “Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Maya Wiley want to slash the police department budget and shrink the police force at a time when black and brown babies are being shot in our streets, hate crimes are terrorizing Asian and Jewish communities,” Adams said in a statement. “and innocent New Yorkers are being stabbed and shot on their way to work.”

    Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Wiley both want to defund the police, and Wiley has expressed her idea, if she were elected mayor, to name a police commissioner who is a civilian. 

     “They are putting slogans and politics in front of public safety and would endanger the lives of New Yorkers,” Adams said.   

     Last week, Adams received the endorsement the powerful and highly-influential Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, which is New York City’s largest Jewish group, a thriving Staten Island Jewish group, the prominent Sephardic Community Federation (SCF), the Crown Heights community, and the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance also have endorsed Adams.