Latest news with #JewishVotersActionNetwork
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zohran Mamdani makes massive gains in NYC mayoral race — but still can't topple Cuomo's lead: poll
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is seemingly gaining ground on Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary race — but the ex-gov continues to come out on top, a new internal poll shows. The survey, released Tuesday by Mamdani's camp, has the state assemblyman from Queens coming in with 27% in the first round of rank-choice voting, with the next candidate failing to even register in the double digits. But Cuomo maintains his lead in the crowded field, nabbing 40% of the vote — with the Democratic primary just four weeks away. The former governor, who is mounting his political comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2021, would come out as the winner of the June 24 primary, leading Mamdani by 12 points. The poll shows Cuomo winning in the sixth-round, with 56% of the vote, knocking off Mamdani, who ends with 44%. 'With still a third lower name recognition than Cuomo and millions in cash on hand, Zohran is nowhere near his ceiling,' Mamdani's campaign said, touting the poll. 'Heading into the final stretch, our campaign will leverage its massive field operation—which has now knocked more than 600,000 doors—to close the gap with the disgraced ex.-Governor and win a city every New Yorker can afford to call home.' The poll, which surveyed 500 likely voters between May 14 and 18, was not shared in full with The Post. Cuomo's spokesman Rich Azzopardi pointed out on social media that the results mirror the findings of recent independent polls. 'The race for Mayor remains in line with our polling from a month ago,' the Honan Strategy Group said. The group recently conducted a poll for Jewish Voters Action Network, which had Cuomo winning against Mamdani in the seventh round, 61% to 39%, respectively. The survey polled more than 400 Jewish Democrats along with 712 likely voters between May 15 to 18.
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
AOC is the nightmarish new Donald Trump of the Left
Out with the old, in with the younger – that's the only way to explain a baffling new poll which revealed that a majority of New York Democrats would prefer to be represented by far-Left Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who the White House has already started to call the 'Democrat Party leader', than the more moderate Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. It's a stinging rebuke of Schumer's leadership, at a moment when the Democrats are scrambling to reinvent themselves after last November's nationwide defeat. The poll, which was commissioned by The Jewish Voters Action Network, pitted Schumer against AOC in a hypothetical Senate primary race. AOC led Schumer by an impossible-to-ignore 54 per cent to 33 per cent among likely Democrat voters – and 45 per cent to 33 per cent among Jewish Democrats. The latter figure is particularly eyebrow-raising considering AOC's long paper-trail of anti-Israel views and votes. Back in 2021, AOC cried on the House floor when a bill providing funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system passed. Then in May 2024, AOC was one of the first – and certainly one of the most influential – US politicians to brand Israel's operations in Gaza a 'genocide'. In 2019, AOC helped back a resolution put forth by fellow 'Squad' member Ilhan Omar defending boycotts, in what was widely seen to be a show of support for the anti-Israel BDS movement. And last October, AOC called upon the US to impose an arms embargo against Israel. The disconnect between AOC's strident anti-Israel viewpoints and her popularity among Jewish Democrats is striking. It is also alarming – and not just for Schumer, who at 74 is now serving his fifth term in the Senate while contending with a 55 per cent unfavourability rate. The AOC numbers arrive as the Congresswoman makes her clearest stabs yet for national-level leadership, including a potential 2028 run for the White House. Earlier this spring, AOC joined Bernie Sanders on a cross-country 'Fighting the Oligarchy' tour, which included a stop at the influential Coachella music festival. The tenor of their message is clear: America has 'a government of billionaires, by billionaires and for billionaires'. Despite the duo's penchant for private jet travel to ferry them from venue to venue, AOC has emerged as a viable player for the presidency. In April, Nate Silver, considered by many as America's leading political pollster, declared AOC to be his pick for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. A Yale Youth poll, meanwhile, placed AOC at a close second among younger voters against former vice-president Kamala Harris in a hypothetical match-up for the White House. What's most concerning for both Schumer and the Democrats are the fundamentals behind Schumer's decline. From the Left, Schumer has faced attacks for being too centrist, too conciliatory – particularly when he agreed to advance a Republican funding bill in March to avoid a government shutdown. Nearly every House Democrat voted against the bill in an act of united anti-Trump resistance. Schumer's failure to join them led many progressives to call for his resignation. AOC bitingly described Schumer's vote as an 'acquiesce'. Meanwhile, Jewish voters are turning against the Senator, who they believe has turned against Israel. 'The only thing Chuck Schumer knows about anti-Semitism is how to spread it,' declared a controversial column in the New York Post in March. The complaints against Schumer are myriad: failing to pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, reportedly advising Columbia University to 'ignore' the backlash over accusations of anti-Semitism on campus, and even suggesting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be voted out of office mere months after Hamas's October 7 massacre. And so, here we are, Schumer is sinking, AOC is surging and their party is desperate for a rebrand. Which is why AOC increasingly holds all the cards. For one thing, her favourability rating holds up well, at least compared to other Democrats. But it's the tenor of AOC 'favourability' that truly makes her a threat. Her base of socialists, minorities, students and social-justice warriors are united by a near obsession with the progressive causes – identity, climate change, economic inequality – that President Trump despises most. Schumer's centrism, on the other hand, has left him looking powerless, futilely seeking compromise with a raging White House hell-bent on dismantling everything the Democrats hold dear. AOC must know that even she could fall victim to the Left's new purity spiral. She was heckled and branded a 'war criminal' at a Town Hall-style meeting this month for not doing enough to end the Gaza 'genocide'. Which is why, for AOC to keep on winning, she'll need to engage in even more brazen acts of #resistance. That's certainly what her base wants of her. Cult-like in their affection – small donors helped propel AOC to a record $9.6 million fund-raising haul in the first three months of the year – her fans are aggressive, score-settling and confrontational. In other words, they're a lot like Trump supporters, but in reverse – all meta and no Maga. So does that make AOC the Trump of the Left? While Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker and Rahm Emanuel position themselves as logical, moderate, electable 2028 players, AOC – like Trump – is doubling-down on the radicalism that has got her this far in the first place. It's working for socialist New York mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has surged to second place in polling for the upcoming election, despite an even more odious anti-Israel record than AOC. Of course succeeding in deep blue Gotham reveals little in regard to a national run. But if the Democrats ultimately decide they need their own 'Trump' to beat Trumpism, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be the best (and only) option they have.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ritchie Torres in dead heat with Kathy Hochul among NYC Dems in potential gov primary: new poll
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres is running neck and neck with Gov. Kathy Hochul among New York City Democrats in a hypothetical party primary for the statehouse next year, a new poll shows. The survey, conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Jewish Voters Action Network, found that 38% of likely city Democratic voters would back Hochul if the election were held today, compared to 37% for Torres, with 25% of the respondents undecided. The city, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, greatly influences the state's Dem gubernatorial primary. The poll also showed Hochul led among likely Jewish city Democrats — 40% to 31% for Torrres — with 29% undecided. Both Hochul and Torres are staunch backers of Israel and have pushed back against Israel-bashing and antisemitism. Hochul led by a larger margin in the city against her estranged Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado — 42% to 28%, with 30% undecided. Among Jewish city Dems, Hochul led Delgado 40% to 23%, with 37% undecided. Maury Litwack, founder of the Jewish Voters Action Network, said he oversampled Jewish voters in the polling as part an ongoing effort to better understand the views of the community. The mix included 724 likely Democratic voters plus 412 likely Jewish Democratic voters, based on prior voting history and motivation to vote after the election of Republican Trump last year. But the findings clashed with a recent Siena College poll, which found Hochul further ahead of her potential Democratic rivals. That survey — which queried registered rather than likely voters — showed Hochul with 44% support among Democrats in New York City compared to 13% for Torres and 9% for Delgado. Statewide, Hochul captured 46% of the vote of those polled to 12% for Delgado and 10% for Torres. A majority of upstate Democrats, 54%, backed the sitting governor, who is from Buffalo. Still, a majority of all voters said they prefer someone else as governor, and her favorability rating among respondents was under 50%. State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs, a Hochul ally, scoffed at the latest findings showing Torres in a dead heat with the governor. 'It sounds like a flawed poll. I wouldn't pay attention to it whatsoever,' Jacobs said. 'That survey doesn't align with any other I've seen — including the Siena College poll,' added the party chairman. Meanwhile Republican Congress members Elise Stefanik and MikeLawler are weighing a run for governor, as is Nassau County, LI, Executive Bruce Blakeman. The phone text poll of 1,136 Democrats, conducted from May 15-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.89 percentage points.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AOC would trounce Chuck Schumer in primary as party leader ‘bleeding support' from Dems, Jewish voters: poll
'Squad' member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would trounce Sen. Chuck Schumer in a primary – as the Democratic leader is 'bleeding support' from his party and Jewish voters, a stunning new poll found. Socialist Ocasio-Cortez leads five-term incumbent Schumer by a 54%-33% among likely Democratic voters in the Big Apple, according to the poll conducted by Honan Strategy Group for the Jewish Voters Action Network. AOC, 35, who now services as a member of the House of Representatives, leads Schumer among Jewish Democrats 45%-33% with 17% undecided, the poll found. 'This is a massive wake-up call for Schumer,' said Maury Litwack, co-founder of Jewish Voters Action Network. 'He's not only bleeding support in the Democratic Party overall but also in the Jewish community.' The numbers are troublesome for Schumer, who is Jewish and has relied on Jewish voters as a key area of support in his 50-year political career. The 74-year-old Senate minority leader isn't up for reelection until 2028. Litwack said the poll results are likely more of a reflection of dissatisfaction with Schumer than support for AOC, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — a group that supports the controversial boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. Ocasio-Cortez herself has called Israel's retaliatory bombing of the Gaza strip 'genocide' after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But Litwack was critical of Schumer's actions in the wake of those attacks and subsequent antisemitic protests in the United States. 'The leading Jewish elected official in the nation did not step up in a moment of rising antisemitism — and the poll reflects that,' Litwack said. He said Schumer failed to pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act last year while Democrats controlled the Senate and White House and he served as Senate majority leader. The legislation would empower the US Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when investigating potential violations of civil rights law. Litwack also noted that Schumer was accused of advising Columbia University to ignore accusations of antisemitism, which was referenced in a bombshell House investigative report on campus protests. Schumer vehemently denied the claim. Meanwhile, Schumer attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Senate floor months into the war in Gaza, saying new elections should be held. The senator wrote a book about antisemitism but his actions did not match his words in combatting it, Litwack also came under a firestorm of criticism from liberal party activists — already smarting over Donald Trump's second election to the White House — by voting in March to pass a six-month government funding bill. Some called on him to step down as the Senate Democratic leader, preferring someone else to be more confrontational with Trump. The New York senior senator defended the vote, claiming a partial shutdown would have wrought 'devastation like we've never seen.'The phone text poll of 1,136 Democrats, conducted from May 15-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.89 percentage points. A spokesperson for Schumer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York Post
25-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Ritchie Torres in dead heat with Kathy Hochul among NYC Dems in potential gov primary: new poll
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres is running neck and neck with Gov. Kathy Hochul among New York City Democrats in a hypothetical party primary for the statehouse next year, a new poll shows. The survey, conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Jewish Voters Action Network, found that 38% of likely city Democratic voters would back Hochul if the election were held today, compared to 37% for Torres, with 25% of the respondents undecided. The city, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, greatly influences the state's Dem gubernatorial primary. Advertisement 3 Rep. Ritchie Torres is neck and neck with Gov. Kathy Hochul among New York City Democrats in a new gubernatorial poll. Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images The poll also showed Hochul led among likely Jewish city Democrats — 40% to 31% for Torrres — with 29% undecided. Both Hochul and Torres are staunch backers of Israel and have pushed back against Israel-bashing and antisemitism. Advertisement Hochul led by a larger margin in the city against her estranged Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado — 42% to 28%, with 30% undecided. Among Jewish city Dems, Hochul led Delgado 40% to 23%, with 37% undecided. Maury Litwack, founder of the Jewish Voters Action Network, said he oversampled Jewish voters in the polling as part an ongoing effort to better understand the views of the community. 3 The poll found that 38% of likely city Democratic voters would back Hochul if the election were today — while 37% are supporting Torres. Dennis A. Clark Advertisement The mix included 724 likely Democratic voters plus 412 likely Jewish Democratic voters, based on prior voting history and motivation to vote after the election of Republican Trump last year. But the findings clashed with a recent Siena College poll, which found Hochul further ahead of her potential Democratic rivals. That survey — which queried registered rather than likely voters — showed Hochul with 44% support among Democrats in New York City compared to 13% for Torres and 9% for Delgado. 3 Hochul led Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in the poll by 42% to 28%. Hans Pennink for NY Post Advertisement Statewide, Hochul captured 46% of the vote of those polled to 12% for Delgado and 10% for Torres. A majority of upstate Democrats, 54%, backed the sitting governor, who is from Buffalo. Still, a majority of all voters said they prefer someone else as governor, and her favorability rating among respondents was under 50%. State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs, a Hochul ally, scoffed at the latest findings showing Torres in a dead heat with the governor. 'It sounds like a flawed poll. I wouldn't pay attention to it whatsoever,' Jacobs said. 'That survey doesn't align with any other I've seen — including the Siena College poll,' added the party chairman. Meanwhile Republican Congress members Elise Stefanik and MikeLawler are weighing a run for governor, as is Nassau County, LI, Executive Bruce Blakeman. The phone text poll of 1,136 Democrats, conducted from May 15-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.89 percentage points.
