Not only Asians, Whites also backed Zohran Mamdani despite racist attacks

Despite a wave of racist and Islamophobic attacks against Zohran Mamdani over his upset victory in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, data shows that the Indian-American received significant backing from white voters, apart from Asians.

Mamdani made history as the first Muslim nominee of the Democrats after former Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race on Wednesday. A closer analysis of the data shows that 36% of white or Caucasian voters backed Mamdani, while only 25% voted for Cuomo, a heavyweight whose career has been wracked by sex scandals.

BROADER COALITION OF VOTERS

In fact, whites were the second-largest chunk of voters for Mamdani, the son of the popular filmmaker Mira Nair, after Asians. Mamdani, born in Uganda, received a staggering 58% of the Asian votes, as compared to 16% got by Cuomo.

Mamdani, who will be the US’s first mayor of South Asian descent if he wins the November election, reached out to South Asians with ads in Urdu and Hindi using Bollywood themes.

According to the New York Post, he swept the liberal bastions of Brooklyn and Fort Greene, predominantly white areas. He also made inroads in black and Hispanic neighbourhoods across the city.

Data shows he received 30% of the Hispanic/Latino vote, while Blacks accounted for 21% of his vote share. “Mamdani developed a much broader coalition than you might have expected,” John Mollenkopf of the City University of New York told the New York Post.

Another political analyst, Zachary Donnini, tweeted, “Zohran Mamdani upset Andrew Cuomo with a more diverse-than-expected coalition of affluent White voters as well as Hispanic and Asian voters. Cuomo led only among Black voters.”

APPEAL AMONG YOUNG VOTERS

Moreover, Mamdani, who campaigned on the plank of affordability, resonated with voters, especially the younger ones. His near-ubiquitous presence on social media also helped in reaching out to young professionals seeking more affordable rents.

The result was visible. While Mamdani performed well in places with the highest concentration of young voters, Cuomo gained in older neighbourhoods.

Overall, Mamdani seemed to have done well with the demographics that had shifted away from the Democrats in the 2024 presidential polls, including young people, Asians, and Latinos.

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