Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang Leads Pack in Latest Poll

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is leading the pack, with 22% of New Yorkers saying that they would vote for him, revealed the results of a survey that was conducted by NY1 news and Ipsos.

   Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams showed the support of 13% of New Yorkers. While Comptroller Scott Stringer only earned the support of 11% of New Yorkers, the only current citywide elected official in the race did beat both Adams and Yang as Democratic voters’ second choice preference.

    MSNBC legal analyst Maya Wiley, who also formerly served as a legal advisory to Mayor Bill de Blasio had the support of 7% of New Yorkers. The other mayoral candidates are polling even lower in the single digits.

    This morning, a reporter asked Mayor Bill de Blasio at his press conference what he makes of New Yorkers’ enthusiasm for Yang, who first became a household name when he ran last year in the Democratic presidential primary.

   “Is it that New Yorkers who are favoring Yang are looking for drastic change after your eight years in City Hall?” a reported asked the mayor, who responded that he thinks it is too early to tell exactly who the true front runner is for mayor.

  “I think [Yang] has a lot of name recognition and that is a huge factor right now, said Mayor de Blasio. “It is April 18th, and we're over two months out [from the mayoral primary.” 

   “At this point in 2013, I was in fourth place,” said the mayor, who said the city will understand more about the mayoral candidates as media and public scrutiny intensifies in the coming months. “So, I don't think anyone should assume what we've seen today is what the outcome will be. It may be, but it is just way too early to tell.”

   At the moment, however, Yang has built a sizeable lead in the polls, and he has even starting to accrue more interest among African-American voters, according to his to campaign managers Chris Coffey and Sasha Ahuja and pollster Evan Roth Smith, who shared Yang’s poll statistics with reporters on Friday.

   How does policing most need to change in New York City to drive down crime? BoroPark24 asked Coffey on Friday.

   Speaking on behalf of Yang, Coffey said that the mayoral candidate wants to both redress the murders of African-Americans by the police and “at the same time address crime swiftly and as a top priority.

Photo by: Yang Campaign