Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to cast a huge shadow over New York City’s mayoral race, despite not even jumping in as a candidate — at least not yet.
A new poll conducted for mayoral candidate Scott Stringer shows that Cuomo would be the clear front-runner to win the June Democratic primary if he enters the race, garnering support from 33% of Democratic voters.
Stringer, the former city comptroller, is second with 13%, followed by incumbent Mayor Eric Adams with 11%, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos with 7% and current City Comptroller Brad Lander with 6%.
It’s the second poll released in three days showing Cuomo with a significant lead over the field.
In the other — a survey conducted by the Democratic activist group Progressive Democrats of America — found that Cuomo held a large double-digit lead in a hypothetical horse race and would easily win in a ranked-choice primary.
Cuomo has nearly universal name recognition with him and his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, being in the public eye since the 1970s, which political pundits have told The Post is likely helping the three-term Democrat in the early days of the race.
But many of the trailing candidates are also household names in New York City politics, or currently hold public office.
Adams is the sitting mayor, Stringer has held elected office since 1993, and Lander is the sitting comptroller, one Democratic Party insider noted.
The Stringer campaign declined to comment on its poll but did not dispute the findings.
The poll came as primary candidates’ latest fundraising numbers from Oct. 8 and Jan. 11 were set to be made public.
Lander, who brought up the rear of the poll, touted his $218,299 in recent donations bringing his campaign’s tally to roughly $5.4 million with matching public funds that were finally approved Wednesday.
The comptroller was previously denied matching funds over what his camp called a filing snafu. But political insiders believed his team missed the filing deadline last time around to help him keep his options open in case he wanted to ditch the race for Gracie Mansion and run for re-election instead.
Stringer came in just behind Lander, raising just under $200,000, which put his war chest at $4.1 million after matching funds.
Adams restarted his fundraising apparatus over the last quarter after being denied public matching funds, but the campaign had yet to file its latest report as of Wednesday afternoon.
The mayor’s fundraising had slowed in recent months while nearing the $7.9 million spending limit for the primary.
Ramos had also yet to make her fundraising figures public Wednesday.
Also angling to get the Democratic nod for mayor:
The trio atop the poll — Adams, Cuomo and Stringer — though, still comes with political baggage.
Adams is seeking re-election while fighting federal corruption charges and low approval ratings. He has denied the charges.
Cuomo resigned as governor in August 2021 under the threat of impeachment following a slew of sexual misconduct accusations that he denies.
But even amid his downfall, Cuomo retained considerable backing from key Democratic constituencies, particularly black voters.
During his 2021 campaign for mayor, a woman accused Stringer’s campaign was derailed after a woman accused him of inappropriately touching her. The lawsuit that tanked his first mayoral bid has since been tossed and he is separately suing the woman for defamation.
— Additional reporting by Aneeta Bhole
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