NYC Dem Voters Call Gaza a Genocide, Embrace Mamdani’s Pro-Palestine Politics
Image Description: A group of Pro-Palestine protestors in NYC. Palestinian flags and signs are held up with messages like 'End all U.S. aid to apartheid Israel,' and 'Palestine will be free.'
This essay appeared in the July 29, 2025 edition of UNFTR’s premium newsletter. Become a UNFTR member to receive our bonus newsletter each week and for other perks.
Voters hate genocide and they want the United States to stop supporting the one being committed by Israel in Gaza. And the kicker for the “globalize the intifada” truthers in corporate media: Zohran Mamdani’s express support for Palestinians has been a key driver in his political emergence.
That’s the overwhelming sentiment shared by New York City Democratic primary voters in a Data for Progress poll published Tuesday, which provides valuable insights into how the 21-month Israeli genocide in Gaza has influenced voters. Most notably, 78% want the United States to reduce support for Israel.
Also telling: Survey respondents ranked Mamdani’s support for Palestinian rights (62%) as the third-highest motivating factor for their decision to support him in the June primary, which saw the upstart politician upend the political establishment and handily defeat a field of candidates that included former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a previously untouchable electoral force.
As for the top two issues that swayed those primary voters to pull the lever for the state assemblyman-turned-viral mayoral candidate: affordable housing (74%) and lowering costs (64%).
Mamdani Surges as Democratic Party Favorability Tanks
If there’s no room for Mamdani in the Democratic primary, as Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) suggested on CNN last month, then the so-called “Big Tent” party is poised to bleed voters, potentially costing them future elections—hardly an exaggeration when you consider that 29% of people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but not Kamala Harris in 2024 cited Israel’s violence in Gaza as their top reason.
As IMEU Policy Project, which funded the survey, said in its X post publicizing the results: “The dam is breaking in the Democratic Party.”
The surge in support for Mamdani, his policy proposals and the broader sympathies toward Palestinians comes as Americans’ opinion of the Democratic Party is in the tank. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, 63% of voters view the party unfavorably, a three-decade low.
While perhaps perplexing to the establishment, shaken to its core by Mamdani’s trouncing of serial-groper Cuomo, the results of the Data for Progress poll should hardly be a shock.
New York City: Epicenter of Palestine Solidarity and Free Speech Crackdowns
New York City in particular has been a hotbed of pro-Palestinian actions, and also the site of some of the most intense crackdowns on protesters during the Biden administration.
It also became the battleground over free speech, as leading universities have enacted censorship regimes that conflate negative opinions of Israel with anti-Semitism, and was where activist and Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was kidnapped from his university-owned apartment building and disappeared to a detention facility in North Carolina over his political views. A federal judge ordered Khalil’s release from ICE custody in June, following more than three months of detention.
While the establishment successfully stamped out mass protests and enacted policies to suppress free speech, they apparently failed to crush what’s in people’s hearts. It appears you can beat, detain and tell people what not to say, but the corporate establishment can’t so easily poison people’s souls, especially a younger generation that grew up rightfully learning that genocide is the worst of the worst.
It seems everything people have been taught, and the atrocities they’ve seen during the live-streamed genocide in Gaza, has left an indelible mark.
According to the poll, which oversampled the districts represented by Reps. Dan Goldman and Richie Torres, two corporate Democrats funded by AIPAC, 78% of NYC Democratic primary voters said they believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza—the same percentage who also say the United States should reduce its support for Israel.
Across demographics and congressional districts, respondents said (79%) want the United States to “restrict taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel,” including in NY-10 (71%) and NY-15 (72%), districts represented by Goldman and Torres, respectively.
Voters who were polled weren’t shy about hiding their disdain for certain individuals, particularly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes fugitive. Netanyahu, who dismissed Mamdani’s popular proposals as “nonsense” during his softball Full Send Podcast interview, is universally loathed (-64), with nearly two-thirds saying they support his arrest if he enters New York City amid a standing ICC warrant.
Progressive Favorites Outpoll Centrists Among NYC Democratic Base
When it comes to Mamdani, here’s the takeaway: His campaign messaging clearly resonated, with his most frequently referenced proposals—affordable housing, lowering costs and taxing the wealthy (which would need to be approved by the state legislature)—scoring the highest points among those who voted in the primary.
Looking ahead to the future, the poll found worrying signs for corporate Democrats: Respondents said they were less likely (57%) to support someone in the 2026 Democratic primaries for Congress if they refuse to endorse Mamdani, and if they oppose a bill in Congress that would stop arms sales to Israel and pledge their first international trip to be to Israel.
Meanwhile, enthusiasm within the base is one-sided, with progressives scoring significantly higher favorables, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (+62), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (+60) and Brad Lander (+55), the New York City Comptroller.
National Polls Confirm: Israel Support Hits Historic Lows
As for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the declining support for Israel isn’t limited to the five boroughs of New York City. A Gallup poll released Tuesday said support for Israel (32%) is at its lowest since November 2023, with only 8% of Democrats and 25% of Independents expressing support for the occupying force.
The dam is indeed breaking—over support for Israel and the future of the Democratic Party. For the party’s leaders, there’s plenty to take away from what voters are telling them, including that they know genocide when they see it.
What will Democrats do? Will they follow the will of the people? Unlikely. There’s plenty of evidence that the political apparatus is much more comfortable crushing dissent and using its influence to consolidate power.
But what if Mamdani is just the start? When the dam crumbles, will corporate Democrats be caught in its wake?
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Image Source
- Drew, Pamela “NYPL Free Palestine Save Gaza Ceasefire” Flickr, 11 November 2023. CC BY-NC 2.0. Changes were made.
Rashed Mian
Rashed Mian is the managing editor of the award-winning News Beat podcast and co-founder of the newly launched Free The Press (FTP) Substack newsletter. Throughout his career, he has reported on a wide range of issues, with a particular focus on civil liberties, systemic injustice and U.S. hegemony. You can find Rashed on X @rashedmian and on Bluesky @rashedmian.bsky.social.
