New Poll Shows Zohran Mamdani’s Support for Palestinian Rights Supercharged His Campaign to Victory
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A poll released Tuesday, July 29, by IMEU Policy Project and conducted by Data for Progress found that not only did the vast majority of voters in New York City’s Democratic primary for mayor agree with Zohran Mamdani’s platform supporting Palestinian rights, including his recognition that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, but that his pro-Palestinian platform may have also activated new voters and can serve as a blueprint for the Democratic Party going forward.
The survey of 513 Democratic primary voters was conducted from July 11-17 - before images of Israel’s forced starvation in Gaza made major headlines. The margin of error is +/- 4.
New York City primary voters were strongly pro-Palestinian and highly critical of Israel.
78% say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
79% support restricting weapons to Israel
63% support arresting Netanyahu if he visits New York City
As national polls have shown support for Israel cratering in the Democratic Party nationally — a June 2025 Quinnipiac poll found 60% of Democrats say they sympathize more with Palestinians, compared to 12% for Israel - the same trend has proven to be true among New York City Democratic primary voters. These voters strongly sympathize with Palestinians over Israel (66% vs 16%) and want to see US support for Israel reduced. Just 5% of voters said “increasing or maintaining US support for Israel” was a factor in their vote. In contrast, 21% of all voters named “reducing US support for Israel” as a factor.
New voters - voters who didn’t vote in the 2021 primary - appear to have been brought out to vote by Zohran’s pro-Palestinian platform. 35% say reducing support for Israel was a factor in their vote, compared to 21% for all voters.
83% of these voters who cast a ballot for Zohran also say “his support for Palestinian rights” was a factor, compared to 62% among all Zohran voters.
As the Democratic Party looks for its future leaders in 2028 and beyond, these voters overwhelmingly prefer politicians who have taken a stand for restricting weapons to Israel, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (+62-point net favorability) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (+60). New York Members of Congress who have supported providing taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel rank considerably lower, including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (+27), Sen. Chuck Schumer (+7), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (+3). AIPAC (-35) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (-64) are deeply unpopular with these voters.
Mamdani voters were also asked what issues affected their decision to vote for him, and the top responses they cite are “his plans to lower costs” (89%) and “his plans to tax the wealthy and stand up to corporations” (86%). Notably, the third-most motivating reason for Mamdani voters is “his support for Palestinian rights” (62%).
The poll also included an oversample of New York’s 10th Congressional district, represented by Rep. Dan Goldman, a Member of Congress funded by AIPAC who has repeatedly voted with Republicans to advance anti-Palestinian legislation. Goldman is deeply unpopular with his voters. 21% of his constituents say they expect to vote for him again, while 44% say they plan to vote for another Democrat in the June 2026 primary.
MORE KEY FINDINGS:
Looking ahead to the June 2026 primary, voters report being more likely to support a candidate who…
Opposes the Trump administration’s attempts to detain college students over Palestinian advocacy (76% more likely);
Pledges to support the Block the Bombs Act (72% more likely); and
Declines to take an international trip to Israel (60% more likely)
And voters report being less likely to vote for a candidate who …
Refuses to endorse Zohran Mamdani (57% less likely);
Opposes the Block the Bombs Act, a new bill in Congress which would withhold U.S. weapons to Israel and address concerns about Israel's violations of U.S. and international law (54% less likely); and
Pledges that their first international trip will be to Israel (50% less likely).
As Democrats discuss their strategy to win in the years ahead, the Zohran campaign’s ability to win the trust of voters - and activate new voters - with his staunch support for Palestinian rights must be the blueprint.