This article is adapted from our May 15 edition of RANKED CHOICES, THE CITY’s weekly election newsletter. Click here to sign up.
Dear New Yorkers,
Your phone buzzes; it’s a text. You hope it’s your crush.
Instead, it’s a message from an unknown number asking if you’d like to participate in a survey asking voters their opinions on issues facing New York City (text ‘STOP’ to opt out).
Do you brush aside your disappointment and answer? Are these even legit?
My colleague Rachel Kahn spoke to the experts about these text polls, which are ever more popular with campaigns because they’re affordable and target active voters who’ve cast ballots in recent elections. Some come from better-known polling institutions, while others may come from unknown companies.
The most recent mayoral poll from Marist, which again found former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the lead, used texting as one way to find out what matters to New York City voters.
“It’s cheaper than doing door-to-door targeted survey questions and standing there in front of an individual,” one expert said.
And if you haven’t heard, we launched Meet Your Mayor for the 2025 mayoral election. Take the quiz and see which mayoral candidates line up best with your thoughts and feelings about the city!
— Katie Honan and THE CITY’s election team
What We’re Reading …
Heads up: There are also district attorneys races in the June primary — but they don’t have ranked choice. Read all about the races here.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio has settled with the city’s Conflicts of Interest board, agreeing to pay back $330,000 for using his police detail in his failed presidential run.
Cuomo finally received matching funds, but was docked $622K for improper coordination with his PAC.
Speaker Adrienne Adams still hasn’t qualified for public matching funds, in part because of paperwork issues. Records show the Campaign Finance Board rejected 619 of her 889 matching claims submitted — the highest rate of any mayoral candidate.
Now that the state budget is done, which pieces of legislation pending in Albany could actually pass in this session?
And new campaign ads dropped this week, which you’ll see on TV and digitally: Whitney Tilson and Scott Stringer for mayor, Jumaane Williams for public advocate, and Mark Levine for comptroller.
What’s Ahead …
Days until the June primary: 40
May 21: Mayoral candidate forum hosted by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, 5 to 6:30 p.m. at The New School. Register here.
May 23: The next campaign finance disclosure deadline, which means we’ll get a fresh look at how much money each candidate has raised, and who is contributing.
June 9: 🚨Change-of-address deadline for your voter registration ahead of the primary!🚨
June 14: Early voting begins.
Your Election Questions
We’re co-hosting the leading Democratic mayoral and comptroller debates with Spectrum News 1, WNYC/Gothamist and other partners and we want your suggestions for questions to ask the candidates.
Submit a question you would like us to put to the candidates for mayor and comptroller — it could end up getting asked at the debates!
Lots of you have already sent in questions, but we want more!
And as always, if you have a question for our election team, reply back to this email or send your questions to ask@thecity.nyc.
THE CAMPAIGN KICKER: For the true data heads out there, our friends at the Center for Urban Research at CUNY mapped out how the 2021 mayoral primary vote landed in the eight rounds of ranked choice tallying, laid out down to the election district. How many Maya Wiley voters in Crown Heights chose Eric Adams over Kathryn Garcia in that last round? Now you know!
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The post Your Guide to All Those Political Texts: Polls, Surveys and More appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
