Zohran Mamdani's support for Palestinian rights sealed primary

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor delivered remarks at a primary victory celebration with leaders and members of the city’s labor unions, including the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, 32BJ SEIU, New York State Nurses Association, and NY City Central Labor Council in Manhattan, New York, United States on July 2, 2025. (( Kyle Mazza – Anadolu Agency ))

Many voters in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary were moved to cast a ballot due to the fallout from Israel’s war on Gaza

Reposted by Middle East Eye, July 29, 2025

Last month, New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, not only mounted one of the biggest upsets in establishment politics in years, but he also won the most votes of any candidate on a primary ballot in the city’s history.

New polling numbers released on Tuesday (July 29) now show that his open support for Palestinian rights was the issue that “supercharged” his campaign.

An overwhelming 78 percent of New Yorkers who voted for Mamdani agreed with him that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, and 79 percent agreed that weapons transfers to Israel should be restricted.

Out of New Yorkers who voted for him, 63 percent of those also supported arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – per the warrant from the International Criminal Court – if he visits New York City, something Mamdani has said he would do if he were to be elected mayor in November.

The poll was commissioned by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project and conducted by Data for Progress, which collected responses from 513 Democratic primary voters from 11-17 July 2025.

On all three questions, the largest segment of voters who agreed with Mamdani were those who did not vote in the last mayoral election in 2021 – suggesting they were either too young to vote or that Mamdani’s campaign is the one that moved them to the ballot box.

When respondents were asked what issues affected their decision to vote for him, the top responses cited were his plans to lower the cost of living at 89 percent, and his plans to tax the wealthy and stand up to corporations, at 86 percent.

But the third reason they cited was his support for Palestinian rights, at 62 percent.

Among the new voters in 2025, that number rises to 83 percent, at a time when some states and international scholars, including Israeli experts and NGOs, have called Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide.

A growing wave

But the sentiment against Israel isn’t limited to just New York City.

A new Gallup poll reported by CNN shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval rating among Americans at -23 points, his lowest in the US since 1997.

Israel’s military acts in Gaza were also negatively rated at -28 percent.

Overall, the number of Americans who sympathise with Israelis over Palestinians is at a historic low of +5 points, down from +48 in October 2023, before Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 60,000 Palestinians since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. The Lancet medical journal has suggested that the figure may even be an undercount and is likely in the hundreds of thousands.

The swell of energy around Mamdani’s backing of Palestinians and criticism of Israel suggests that the Democratic Party as a whole is out of touch with the electorate, Hamid Bendaas, communications director for the IMEU Policy Project, told Middle East Eye.

“There’s that top line of just unanimity around these questions that only a minority of Democratic members of Congress are willing to say, which is referring to or recognising Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, and calling for weapons to be restricted to Israel,” he said.

The IMEU noted in its statement on Tuesday that the polling included an oversample of New York’s 10th congressional district, which is represented by Dan Goldman, who is “funded by AIPAC [and] who has repeatedly voted with Republicans to advance anti-Palestinian legislation”.

AIPAC is the largest and most influential pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, and it has backed individual lawmakers to the tune of millions of dollars depending on their seniority and influence.

Mamdani’s foremost opponent, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, was supported by AIPAC.

“I mean, there are a couple of things to break down there, right? One is just the general idea that being critical of the Israeli government as a politician is a liability,” Bendaas said. “And there is the liability element of powerful interests that will spend money on ads against you, and they did in this election, seemingly motivated by [Mamdani’s] criticism of the Israeli government and his support for Palestinians.”

But despite Mamdani being outspent 8-1 by Cuomo, he handily won the primary.

“What we’re finding is that especially in the Democratic primary electorate, the view is so close to unanimous that they are supportive of Palestinian rights, and highly critical of the Israeli government, that those millions of dollars actually can’t overcome it,” Bendaas told MEE.

He said he hopes Mamdani’s win on the issue of Palestinian rights can form a blueprint moving forward for a party that is currently stagnant and still reeling from losing the White House and the Senate.

Palestine is “a highly salient issue for voters”, Bendaas said.

“It’s actually activating people and making people come out for someone who they see doesn’t follow” the lines being dictated in Washington, he added, and “they’re so drawn to it”.

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