Yang supporters at a rally (Photo from yangforny.com)
About 10 weeks before the June 22 Democratic primary that is likely to determine the next mayor of New York city, four candidates currently make up the top tier of contenders, according to available polling and interviews with elected officials and party strategists—Andrew Yang, the undisputed poll leader; Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president; City Comptroller Scott Stringer; and Maya D. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio and a former MSNBC analyst.
In a survey released by Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics in March, Yang was the top choice of 16% of respondents, followed by 10% for Eric Adams. Everyone else was in the single digits. The Yang campaign’s private polling shows him with 25% of the vote and Adams with 15%.
The Yang campaign’s polling also shows Yang winning 49% of the Asian vote, with the other candidates in the single digits.
Andrew Yang speaking with New York citizens (Photo from yangforny.com)
Yang, who campaigned unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, is one of more than two dozen candidates who have filed papers to run to succeed the city’s term-limited Mayor de Blasio.
On his campaign website, Yang said the way he sees New York City “breaks my heart.”
“I am running for mayor because I see a crisis—and I believe I can help. We need to launch the largest basic income program in history, invest in a human-centered economy, return to fact-based governance, and create an accessible healthcare system. We need to do all this while enacting accountable and smart policing, building affordable housing, closing our city’s digital divide, modernizing transportation and city services, and more.”