He’s coming out of left field.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist candidate running for New York City mayor, is emerging as a serious contender, a new poll claims.
The survey of likely Democratic voters conducted for Tusk Strategies shows the state assemblyman from Queens — the DSA candidate — in second place with 12% support.
That’s ahead of incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who notched 10% support among likely Dem voters, followed by 7% for current city Comptroller Brad Lander and 5% for former Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is mulling a late entry into the mayor’s race — even as a relative unknown among many New Yorkers — garnered only 2% support.
It’s the first survey that includes Adrienne Adams — no relation to the mayor — as a potential candidate in the June Democratic primary.
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is expected to soon announce a comeback bid for mayor, has a commanding lead with 38% support of respondents — mirroring prior surveys.
Former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake has the support of 3% of Democrats, followed by Brooklyn Sen. Zellnor Myrie with 2%, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos with 1% and financer Whitney Tilson at zero, according to the survey.
The poll of 1,214 city Democrats interviewed on Feb. 22-23 was conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for Tusk Strategies. The text-to-web survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.81 percentage points.
Pollster Bradley Honan’s previous clients include former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and the Teach Coalition affiliated with the Jewish Orthodox Union.
Honan said Mamdani has emerged as the surprising story of the campaign so far, showing growing strength — well behind Cuomo, but ahead of the incumbent mayor, a current and former citywide comptroller and other lawmakers.
The survey found 33% of voters ages 18 to 34 support Mamdani, more than any other candidate for the youngest age group.
Mamdani received 9% of the vote in a prior poll done by Honan a month ago.
The lefty pol’s platform includes advocating for free bus service, no cost childcare, creating city-owned grocery stores and freezing rent.
The taxpayers — or someone — would have to pay for all the “free” stuff.
With ranked choice voting, Mamdani’s voters could determine the outcome of the election, even if he doesn’t win.
HIs growing support also raises the possibility of winning support from DSA stars such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Mandani is in sync with activists who support the DSA’s hard-left pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel position in the Middle East, Honan said.
But the DSA’s support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel could turn off many other Democratic primary voters.
The lawmaker also is winning backing from party voters who despise President Trump, the pollster said.
The survey found that Adrienne Adams would have a lot of catching up to do if she enters the race: 54% of Democrats are unfamiliar or have no opinion of her.
Of those who do, 28% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of the council speaker and 18% unfavorable opinion.
The Democratic primary will be held June 24.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is the declared Republican candidate in the Nov. 4 general election.
