Mamdani posts positive approval at 100 days into first term as NYC mayor

MANHATTAN (CN) — Roughly half of New Yorkers approve of Zohran Mamdani, 100 days into his historic first term as mayor, according to a new Emerson College Polling/PIX11 survey of New York City registered voters released Thursday.

The poll finds Mamdani — the first Muslim and the first person of South Asian descent to be New York City mayor — with a 43% job approval rating and 27% disapproval three months after his inauguration, with 30% of those polled remaining neutral on the self-described democratic socialist mayor.

The polling found Mamdani rated the highest on childcare: 54% approve, while 21% disapprove, followed by housing affordability, with 49% approving and 25% disapproving, and public safety, 45% approving and 32% disapproving.

On Thursday, he announced that, beginning this fall, most 2-K seats which will provide free child care for two-year-olds in New York City, will operate on a full-day and full-year schedule, which the mayor celebrated as a crucial step toward delivering his campaign promise of “truly universal child care” and confronting New York City’s affordability crisis.

The program will run from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., 260 days a year, replacing the traditional 180-day school calendar. The administration says the development represents the mayor’s commitment to aligning early childhood education with the realities facing working families and reducing the need for costly, patchwork child care.

“For many families working nine to five, an eight to three program isn’t going to cut it. For too long, parents have been forced to choose between their livelihood and their children, or to drain their savings just to make it through the workday. That ends now,” Mamdani said on Thursday. “Universal child care must meet the real lives of working people. That begins with full-year, full-day 2-K.”

Mamdani acknowledged this week that his campaign promise of fare-free buses won’t happen this year due to challenges from state lawmakers in Albany.

He told Politico this week that he remains “absolutely committed to making buses fast and free,” while conceding the rollout of the signature policy proposal will be pushed back at least to 2027.

The polling found voters most split on his handling of the city budget: 40% approve and 37% disapprove.

It’s something Mamdani has recently sparred with the city council on, as he mulls program cuts and tax hikes to close a $5.4 billion gap in the city’s $127 billion budget by the deadline in July.

He has floated prospect of a potential property tax increase as a last resort, if state lawmakers refuse to pass new taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Earlier this week, Mamdani personally filled New York City’s 100,000th pothole this year following a historically frosty and snowy winter that battered city roads, as part of an aggressive Department of Transportation maintenance plan to repave over 1,200 lane-miles of city streets.

On Wednesday, he walked six miles home from New York City Hall to the mayoral residence at Gracie Mansion.

The 34-year-old Ugandan-born Democrat, formerly a state assemblyman from Queens, won a contentious election last November against independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, and Republican activist and radio host Curtis Sliwa.

The fiery three-man race fueled the highest voter turnout a New York City mayoral race has seen in decades with more than two million votes cast — a figure not seen since the 1969 election that saw incumbent Liberal Party Mayor John Lindsay elected to a second term.

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