By Sahalie Donaldson
It’s less than a month to Somos – the symbolic showcase of Latino political power in New York politics. But a new poll from Bradley Honan shared exclusively with HAT found that a plurality of likely NYC voters – including 72% of Latino respondents – think that Latino New Yorkers have too little influence in city politics.
Among all 1,302 likely NYC voters polled, 34% said they believe Latino New Yorkers had too little influence in city politics. Just 3% said they had too much, while 32% said they had about the right amount and 31% said they didn’t know.
The poll, crafted by the Honan Strategy Group as part of its latest 5 Borough Barometer survey, comes at a time where some have expressed concerns that traditional Latino power in New York City appears to be eroding. This sentiment was spurred in part by the retirement of Rep. Nydia Velázquez and the defeat of Rep. Adriano Espaillat – two of New Yorkers’ highest-profile Latino politicians. The fact that Mamdani boosted fellow democratic socialists Claire Valdez over Velázquez’s preferred candidate, Antonio Reynoso, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who ousted Espaillat, further inflamed tensions this election cycle.
Of course, Valdez and Avila Chevalier are both Latina, complicating any accusations that Mamdani is anti-Latino. Still, the fact remains, while there’s no shortage of Latino political talent in New York, voters have never elected a Latino candidate to citywide or statewide office.
The Honan Strategy Group surveyed 192 Latino voters for the poll – 15% of the total sample of 1,302 likely voters. The margin of error for all voters was plus or minus 2% and the margin of error for Latino voters was plus or minus 7%.