A new Marist University poll shows former Gov. Andrew Cuomo remains a frontrunner in the Democratic primary for mayor, but the contest tightened between him and Zohran Mamdani. 

According to the poll released Wednesday, Cuomo is the first-choice candidate of nearly four in 10 likely Democratic primary voters, including those who are undecided. Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman, placed second, with more than a quarter of the vote. 

The gap between Cuomo and Mamdani narrowed compared with another Marist poll in May that showed Cuomo beating Mamdani as voters’ first choice by 19 points in the fifth-round of ranked-choice voting. The gap between the two candidates is now down to 11 points, the new poll shows. 

Among first-choice selections of likely Democratic voters in the poll, Cuomo received 38%; Mamdani placed second with 27%; City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander both have 7%; former City Comptroller Scott Stringer with 4%; Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake at 2%; political newcomer Whitney Tilson with 1%; Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, Selma Bartholomew and Paperboy Love Prince received less than 1%. Eleven percent of voters polled said they were still undecided.

There’s also another 11% who do not choose Cuomo or Mamdani as one of their candidate selections at any point during the process, according to the poll.

Ranked-choice voting allows New Yorkers to rank candidates in order of preference. In each round, if the 50% threshold is not met, the candidate with the lowest vote total is eliminated, and those votes get spread among those voters’ next choice on the ballot. Ranked-choice voting rounds continue until one of the candidates crosses the 50% threshold.

In the first-round estimate, according to the poll, with undecided voters excluded, Cuomo received 43% support from likely voters; Mamdani received 31%; Lander with 8%; Adams with 7%; Stringer received 4%; Myrie with 2%; Blake received 2%; Tilson at 1%; and Ramos, Bartholomew and Prince at less than 1%. 

By the fifth round of ranked-choice voting, according to the poll, Cuomo broke the 50% threshold, with 55% of likely voters, according to the poll. Mamdani followed with 45%.

In the poll, Cuomo reached 50% in the sixth round, but did not receive majority support until the seventh round.

According to Marist, 1,350 likely voters participated in the survey, which was conducted between June 9 and 12.

Polls for early voting will be open every day through Saturday, June 22, and on Tuesday, June 24 on Primary Day. Visit here for a full schedule.

For all other election questions, including voting by mail, how ranked-choice voting works and profiles on all the mayoral candidates, check out NY1’s full coverage.