Andrew Yang Lags, Eric Adams Spikes in Polls With One Week to New York City Mayoral Primary

By Matthew Impelli On 6/15/21 at 10:06 AM EDT

Politics New York City Andrew Yang Eric Adams Polls

With just one week before the New York City mayoral Democratic primary election, Andrew Yang has fallen behind in polls, while Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has surged ahead.

The WNBC/Telemundo 47/POLITICO/Marist Poll provided a look into the new ranked-choice voting system that will be used in the election and had Adams edging former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia in the final round of voting.

The ranked-choice system allows voters to place five candidates in order of their preference. Candidates that receive the lowest rank will be eliminated and the first candidate to reach over 50 percent of votes will be declared the winner.

According to the poll, 24 percent said Adams was their first choice, 17 percent named Garcia as their first choice, 15 percent chose Maya Wiley, former counsel to current Mayor Bill de Blasio, and 13 percent chose Yang.

In response to the recent polling, Yang's campaign secretary, Jake Sporn, told Newsweek that "Eric Adams' own super PAC just released a poll showing us within the margin of error, so if their internal polls are that close, you know we're in an excellent position to capitalize on Election Day, especially given the surge of new voters we've already seen in early voting."

When the poll simulated the different rounds of the ranked-choice system, it found Adams winning by 12 points over Garcia in the 12th round (56 percent to 44 percent). As the poll noted, "No candidate comes within eight percentage points of Adams in any of the rankings leading up to the final round. Of note, Wiley remains competitive until the penultimate round."

Yang, who was a top choice early in the race, received 15 percent of votes in the early rounds of the ranked system but was eliminated in the 10th round after receiving 19 percent.

The WNBC/Telemundo 47/POLITICO/Marist Poll surveyed 876 likely Democratic primary voters from June 3 to 9 and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

A separate poll from PIX11/Emerson College, released last week, also found Adams leading the race but Wiley followed close behind in second.

According to the poll, 23 percent of voters said Adams was their first choice in the race, 17 percent said Wiley, 15 percent said Yang and 12 percent chose Garcia.

When the poll simulated the ranked-choice system, it had Adams and Wiley in the final two rounds, with the Brooklyn borough president winning by 17 percent in the final round (58.5 percent to 41.5 percent). Yang and Garcia were eliminated in rounds nine and eight, respectively.