Boomers and Gen-Xers are hitting the polls in big numbers so far in early voting in the 2025 NYC Mayor’s race.
Across the first six days of early voting, an amNewYork analysis of unofficial Board of Elections data found that voters over 60 have continued to make up a plurality of New Yorkers showing up to cast their ballots in the contest between Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
The data, on the surface, would appear to be good news for Cuomo, the 67-year-old former governor who has been receiving strong support among older voters in numerous polls. He has typically led with voters over 50, while Mamdani has had Millennial and Generation Z voters firmly in his corner.
Cuomo himself has insisted that the large volume of older New Yorkers casting early ballots can only be beneficial to him, as he continues to trail Mamdani, the 34-year-old Queens Assembly member, in the polls. However, three of the four recent polls have shown the former governor narrowing the gap.
“The turnout in early voting is setting an all-time record,” Cuomo told reporters during a Thursday Harlem campaign event. “They have never seen this volume of turnout, which is great…and it’s all across the city. And I think the polls have no idea what they’re talking about, because they have never seen this kind of turnout before.”
By the numbers
Voters aged 60 years and older made up 40% of the 397,561 New Yorkers who cast ballots across the Big Apple since early voting kicked off last Saturday, according to the data analysis, while those aged 45-60 made up another 23%.
Meanwhile, younger voters, those between the ages of 18 and 44, accounted for nearly 37% of turnout thus far.
Older voters turned out in the biggest numbers in three Manhattan City Council districts, amNewYork found. The highest turnout was in Council District 4 — which covers the Upper East Side, Midtown East, and Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, with 8,589 voters over 60 coming out in that area.
Voters aged 26-44 turned out in the biggest numbers in Council District 35, which covers several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights.
Mamdani making a senior strategy shift?
Only one of the three polls published this week, a Thursday Emerson College/PIX11/THE HILL poll, bucked the recent trend of Cuomo leading with older voters. It showed Mamdani ahead of the former governor among voters over 50 — 37-31%. Older voters could also be breaking for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who polls well among that demographic as well.
Nonetheless, the early voting numbers appear to have affected Mamdani’s strategy in the final days of his campaign.
Mamdani, who is a democratic socialist Queens lawmaker, held events on both Thursday and Friday at senior centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, respectively. The campaign stops included Mamdani engaging with older Black, Asian, and Latino voters alongside local lawmakers who have endorsed his campaign.
Yet on Friday, Mamdani waved away the idea that he had changed tactics in response to the early voting numbers.
“This is the kind of engagement that we’ve been doing throughout the race,” Mamdani said of speaking to older voters. “We are excited by the results we’ve seen in early voting. We should always celebrate more New Yorkers are getting out to the polls, and we hope to see that number continue to rise.”
amNewYork’s data analysis also revealed that early voting turnout reached its peak of 84,710 on the second day the polls were open, which was Sunday. The slowest day at the polls so far was Thursday, when just 26,129 voters cast ballots amid record rainfall.
Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 2, and Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
