Recent polling underscores how evenly split the electorate has become. A Fox News survey conducted in mid-October found that among Jewish voters, 42% supported Andrew Cuomo, 38% backed Mamdani, and 13% favored Republican Curtis Sliwa. A Quinnipiac University poll from early October showed 41% of likely New York City voters said their views on Israel align most closely with Mamdani’s, compared with 26% for Cuomo. Earlier surveys reflected similar divisions, underscoring a community sharply split over his candidacy.

Earlier surveys reflected similar divisions: a Honan Strategy Group survey from May found roughly six in 10 Jewish voters backed other candidates over Mamdani, while a Zenith Research/Public Progress Solutions poll released July 30 showed about 43% supporting him, underscoring a community sharply divided over his candidacy.

Mamdani has rejected accusations of antisemitism, saying his criticism is aimed at the Israeli government’s conduct, not at Jews. But the controversy has spilled into nearly every corner of New York’s civic life, from synagogue boards and dinner tables to political fundraisers and classrooms, as voters grapple with the broader meaning of his candidacy.

The American Jewish Committee, one of the country’s most influential Jewish advocacy groups, took the unusual step of issuing a formal statement condemning Mamdani’s language. The organization said it “remains deeply troubled by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s continued use of problematic rhetoric as it relates to Israel and Jews,” urging him “to hear the concerns of the New York Jewish community, and to change course.”

“It’s not our intent to interfere in the election, but we felt compelled to speak out given the rhetoric and its implications,” Josh Kramer, the AJC’s New York regional director, told the Washington Examiner. “That demonization of Israel has ramifications; it can inspire people to treat Jews differently.”

Kramer said AJC representatives have met with members of Mamdani’s campaign and “encourage him to speak with mainstream Jewish groups and correct course.”

During his Saturday sermon, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue denounced Mamdani, calling him “a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community.” He urged worshippers to back Andrew Cuomo, warning that “a vote for Mamdani is a vote against Jewish interests.” Cosgrove said Mamdani’s repeated efforts to delegitimize Israel felt like a personal affront, “an attack on my personhood as a Jew, as an American, and as an American Jew.”

“There are some Jewish leaders like Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove in New York who have taken the gloves off and been really, really clear and unequivocally called out bad trends and stood up for their own community,” said Democratic strategist Jon Reinish, who has advised several New York officials and is himself Jewish.

By the end of the week, more than 1,000 rabbis nationwide had signed an open letter asserting that Mamdani’s election would endanger “the safety and dignity of Jews in every city.” Prominent New York rabbis, including Ammiel Hirsch of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and Joshua Davidson of Temple Emanu-El, also released videos voicing concern over Mamdani’s rhetoric and his rejection of Israel’s status as a Jewish state.

The debate has also reached Washington, where leading Democrats are split on navigating Mamdani’s rise. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, has not endorsed Mamdani. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), however, has formally backed the Democratic nominee, saying, “Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy.”

Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, seeking a political comeback, has made Mamdani’s record on Israel a central issue of his campaign. During this week’s debate, Cuomo charged that Mamdani “stoked the flames of hatred against the Jewish people.” Mamdani dismissed that accusation, calling it biased and rooted in discomfort over his possible election as New York’s first Muslim mayor. He said he has “never endorsed extremist movements.”

“There’s less of a divide than people think,” Reinish said. “Much of it falls along age lines, how deeply one feels their Judaism as part of their identity, and how online they are.”

He added, “Our lives as Jews in America might get harder if people are getting elected when their entire political identity, or much of their political identity, is rooted in anti-Israel, anti–Jewish state activism.” 

Reinish said other Jewish leaders “clearly don’t know what to do at this moment” and are “in a political vice of their own making.”

“I really wish I wasn’t having this conversation at all,” he added. “It is a crappy thing to have to have this conversation as a New Yorker, as a Jew, as an American. I wish we weren’t doing this interview. But we have to.”

Supporters such as Dan Zimberg, a Jewish New Yorker backing Mamdani, say the lawmaker’s appeal lies in his focus on affordability and empathy.

 “Zohran’s ability to make inroads with the Jewish community is based on kitchen-table, ‘challah and butter’ issues,” Zimberg told the Washington Examiner. “We also struggle deeply with affordability issues in this city: from childcare, to transportation, to housing. In the backdrop of the U.S.-sponsored genocide by the Likud coalition government, he has shown courageous moral clarity when pushing back vocally against bad faith attacks and unfettered Islamophobic prejudice.”

HAKEEM JEFFRIES ENDORSES ZOHRAN MAMDANI AFTER MONTHS OF PRESSURE

Zimberg said the Jewish community’s reaction must also be understood through a deeper emotional lens. “The Jewish community as a whole has built-in generational trauma from our past,” he said. “Our experiences should not be discounted or taken for granted.”