New Poll: Gaza Genocide Shifts New York Public Opinion Toward Palestinians Over Israel

New York (Quds News Network)- A new survey shows that New Yorkers broadly sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The poll by The New York Times and Siena University shows that 44 percent of registered New York City voters sympathized more with Palestinians while 26 percent sympathized more with Israel.

The poll also found that voters broadly think that criticizing Israel is not inherently antisemitic, 51 percent to 31 percent. New York City is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel.

Qccoridng to the poll, Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its block on aid entering the enclace have led many, including staunch allies of Israel, to shift their views and speak out against Israel.

Several national polls have shown Americans becoming ever more critical of Israel as the genocide in Gaza has continued.

These views have filtered down to the mayor’s race, which is currently led by Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee who has labeled Israel’s assault in Gaza as “genocide.”

Mamdani’s views stand in stark contrast to the positions held by his two pro-Israel general election opponents, Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Both are Democrats who are now campaigning as independents. They, along with Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, are polling far behind Mamdani among likely voters.

According to the poll, Mamdani had a slim lead among the poll’s relatively small sample of Jewish likely voters with about 30 percent support, closely followed by Adams and Cuomo.

More than 70 percent of Jewish voters said they sympathized with Israel, compared with about 20 percent who said they sympathized with Palestinians.

Overall, Mamdani leads the pack in terms of who voters think has best addressed Israel’s occupation of Palestine and genocide in Gaza, with 39 percent preferring his approach. By comparison, 17 percent said they thought Cuomo had best addressed the issue and just 10 percent preferred Adams.

Mamdani’s backers were far more likely to sympathize with Palestinian interests, the poll found. Cuomo’s supporters were slightly more sympathetic to Israel (38 percent), but a sizable share (28 percent) were sympathetic to Palestinians and many (18 percent) supported both groups equally.

While Cuomo has continued to denounce Mamdani’s views, the former governor’s supporters are not especially likely to say that criticizing Israel is antisemitic. A plurality of his supporters, about 43 percent, said that such criticism is not antisemitic. About half of registered voters said they thought criticizing Israel is not inherently antisemitic.