Pollsters Missed the Mamdani Primary Sweep. Can We Trust Them in the General?

In the spring, polls by and large showed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo winning in the primary. That didn’t come to pass, and as the general election approaches, more mayoral polls continue to roll out.

Many of them show Democratic nominee Asm. Zohran Mamdani winning handily. But if the polls were wrong before, how do we know they won’t be again? And which ones should you trust?

Don Levy, director at the Siena Research Institute, says to remember what polls are — just a snapshot in time.

“This is our best effort to understand and then report a representative sample of the electorate at this point in time. And things change. This is a fast-moving race,” he told THE CITY.


https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/16/polls-mamdani-cuomo-adams-mayoral-election-voting/