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Abstract
Why did New Yorkers vote for Zohran Mamdani? Does the emerging democratic socialist moment in NYC reflect a populist turn on the American left, a socialist one, or some combination of the two? We compare explanations based on populism, socialism, and policy views using an original survey of New York City likely voters (August 2025, N=800). Logistic regression analyses show that socialist attitudes and support for Mamdani’s pro-redistribution policy agenda are the strongest predictors of support for Mamdani, whereas populist attitudes are associated with support for Mamdani only when compared with Andrew Cuomo supporters. Socialism and populism are related, but socialism is the more important factor. These results have implications for the study of American populism and give reason to track both sets of attitudes in the public.