Despite his claims of grassroots support, new data reveal that the Zohran Mamdani election was carried not by working-class New Yorkers, but by the city’s educated elite. The democratic socialist’s victory speech painted a picture of immigrant and blue-collar solidarity—but exit polls tell a different story.
“Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city who made this movement their own,” Mamdani said Tuesday night. “I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.”
Yet according to exit polls, voters without college degrees overwhelmingly backed former governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo won 48 percent of voters without a high school diploma, compared to Mamdani’s 40 percent. Among voters with only a high school diploma, Cuomo led 46 percent to 40 percent, and he also edged Mamdani 47 percent to 41 percent among those with “some college.”
Mamdani’s path to victory ran instead through the city’s highly educated class—he won 57 percent of voters with at least a bachelor’s degree, while Cuomo drew just 38 percent.
Though Mamdani built his campaign on attacks against the wealthy, he celebrated his win alongside some of New York’s richest progressives. Alex Soros, son of billionaire activist George Soros, shared a photo with Mamdani on Instagram, writing, “So proud to be a New Yorker! The American dream continues!”
The Soros network reportedly poured tens of millions of dollars into groups supporting Mamdani’s campaign, further underscoring how the Zohran Mamdani election depended more on elite money and Ivy League neighborhoods than on working-class New Yorkers.
