New York voters, by a more than 2-to-1 margin, want Mayor Eric Adams to resign after he was indicted on federal corruption charges last week, a new poll shows.
“I’m stepping up! I’m not going to resign, I’m going to govern!” Adams said Sunday, Sept. 29, in the Bronx.
What you need to know
69% of voters say the mayor should resign. Fifty-nine percent of black voters want Adams to resign, as do 67% of Latino voters and 72% of white voters, compared to 29% who want him to serve out the remainder of his term.
Nearly two-thirds of voters want Gov. Kathy Hochul to begin the process to remove Adams, a power given to him under city and state law.
The poll was conducted from September 30th to October 1st and included opinions from 1,073 adults 18 and older living in New York City.
But a new Marist College poll released Friday says New Yorkers disagree, showing that most urban voters are dissatisfied with Adams.
69% of voters say the mayor should resign, while 29% say it would be better for him to serve out the remainder of his term. Fifty-nine percent of black voters want him to resign, as do 67% of Latino voters and 72% of white voters.
This is the first poll to be released since the indictments were made public last week and focuses on voters in cities familiar with the federal charges.
“What we’re seeing is how quickly this poll has continued since the announcement of the indictment. And you know, he’s clearly not capitalizing on the doubts of voters. There was an immediate negative reaction,” Lee Miringoff, president of the Marist Institute of Public Opinion, told NY1 in a Zoom interview ahead of the poll’s release.
“These numbers tell us what a representative demographic of New Yorkers is thinking, but they don’t necessarily tell us who he is trying to rally around him for the event at hand.”
Adams has been surrounded by supporters since he was indicted on charges including bribery, wire fraud and soliciting donations from foreigners. But polls show his job approval rating is just 26% among adults and 25% among registered voters.
“He can find people who admire him, but when it comes to the court of public opinion, when it comes to representative New Yorkers, there’s not one group that’s really on his side,” Miringoff said.
Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of voters want Gov. Kathy Hochul to begin the process of removing Adams from office, an authority given to her under city and state law.
“He’s clearly saying he can do both,” Miringoff said. “If you look at his numbers right now, almost three-quarters of New Yorkers know what’s going on, so there’s no problem that they suddenly have to discover something.”
Mr. Adams is still preparing for re-election and needs to win over more voters, but most voters also want him to withdraw from next year’s race. 81% of registered voters said they did not want him to run for re-election, compared to just 19% who were in favor.
“In New Yorker language, we say, ‘Forget about it!’ I mean, it’s that bad,” Miringoff said.
The poll was conducted from September 30th to October 1st and included opinions from 1,073 adults 18 and older living in New York City.
The margin of error for all adults is plus/minus 3.6 percentage points, while the margin of error for registered voters is plus/minus 3.8 percentage points.
