October 30, 2025 • 7 mins
JC Polanco talks with Mendte in the Morning about the latest polls in the Mayoral race and which ones we should be paying attention to as election day nears.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, now let's get to Jac Polanco, political analyst and
University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor and attorney. Jac
helped me out for a second with these polls. I
know you study this stuff all of the time. Polls
are all over the place. Let me give you a
few of them right now. So we have the Maris
poll he's mom don he's up ten. Then we have
(00:21):
Manhattan Institute, he's up fifteen, Suffolk he's up ten. Emberson
he's up twenty five. When you see that kind of disparity,
how do you read that? What do you do? Where
do you think the race is based on those polls?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning, first, Nary, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The polls are all over the place.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm looking at the Emerson picks eleven is that is
a twenty five point difference, which would mean it's a blowout.
I think because some others, and you're right, like the
Kunipiac one makes it a closer rease at ten points.
That means that this is going to be one of
those elections where the polls are going to be off right.
There won't be exactly on. It's not going to be
something where you're going to see it and go, oh,
(01:06):
clearly the post got it right. What I think is
going to happen here is that the outliers are wrong.
The outliers are the ones that are going to be wrong.
So on election night, I'm thinking that there are going
to be a lot more undecideds that are going to
come in, people that don't want to express who they're
going to vote for to come in. And this election
is going to be a lot closer. So if I
(01:28):
were putting about our betting man, I would bet on
it being a much closer race in some of the blowouts.
What's concerning, Larry, though, and I have to be honest
with you, is that during the primary election, the Emerson
poll tended to be more in line with reality. And
that's concerning and that that was during the primary. During
the primary, the Emerson poll showed Mamdani beating Cuomo in
(01:51):
the primary. It was the only one that did so.
When I saw the Emerson poll this morning and I
saw a twenty five point blowout, I said, this type though, however,
they got it wrong. But one thing became becomes very
clear to many of your listeners and many of your
folks that follow you is that Curtis lewa is there
some real damage in this race. And I think he's
(02:11):
he's going to course earth and I think he's trying
to be number two. I don't see so many attacks
on Mom Donni right now heading into election day, and
I think he wants to go out and say, you
know what, my friends hurt me. I'm going to show
the world that I should have been the candidate that
they should have coalesced behind, and I'm going to come
out of this at number two. Because if you take
a look at the Emerson poll, it shows him at
around twenty one. So I think that he's lasered in
(02:34):
focused on making sure that CMO's beating up a lot
before election day, which may you know, I'm scratching my
head to this.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Day on debth Well, I know for a fact he
hates Andrew Cuomo and has for a long long time,
so this might be very personal to him as well.
But you're right, it's been pretty apparent for a long
time that he's not going to get out of this race.
What about the early voting so far, what do you
read into that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, we've seen a five thirty percent increase in the
number of people that are coming out to vote early. Now,
there's been some excitement among a lot of Centrists and
Independence and some conservatives even because a lot of the
folks that came out are older like us, right, So
we we saw those large numbers and said, maybe perhaps
(03:21):
there is going to be a united opposition heading into
the weekend before election day. And that's what it looks
like right now. But let's not forget that Mamdani is
the one with a very energetic campaign where people are
just crazy about him. It's almost like the Cult of
Mamdani I call it. Because these people are so excited
and energetic behind this campaign that they may they may
(03:43):
come out in large droves on the weekend before election
day and on election day. So that's why it's so
important for people that are in the opposition polls and
just come out and vote in large numbers. Vote as
much as you can tell your friends to come out
and vote, and don't put attention to these polls as
much as getting out and bringing out your friends to
the polls on election day or the weekend before. Remember
(04:03):
that this weekend will be the last time you get
to vote early, so you got to come out and
vote and make sure that you're hurt.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I just heard you say to people, vote as much
as you can, so you know what New York elections
can be like. If you're asking telling people to vote
more than once.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, listen, English is my second language.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
That's not what I met. Give me some grace, Larry.
I meant, get out, get your people out as much
as you can. Let me refrac to get them out
and vote, and.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Get as many of your friends out and tell people
to vote as much as possible. That's what I meant.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I thought you were suggesting.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But yeah, you know, you know, Larry, there is there's
still time to shock the world. There's still time to
shot the world. But it's getting very late at this point.
These polls are concerning. But if we look at these polls,
we get depressed, and you know, you and me, Larry,
we go to therapy. So let's not look at these
polls and let's try to get as many people out
to vote as pop.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Here's what's fascinating about the polls. They base their polling
on past elections and trends and likely voters. I think
that's all thrown out the window in this election. I
think this is going to be an aberration, and there's
going to be more people voting in this election than
ever before, and we don't know who's coming out. You
talk about the energized Mamdammi voters, I think that there's
(05:23):
many people energized against him and can can are equal
to what he has the people that don't want him.
But I understand he is the central figure in the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Larry, you're right. But the problem is, Larry, is that
that's it's divided. You understand, You're absolutely right. There are
more New Yorkers that don't want assemble the Mamdanie to
win than there are. But the problem is that those
voters are divided between two camps you follow. So, yes,
you're right. But if the energy is behind Siwa and
Pomo going with the election that he wins, Mamdani wins
(05:57):
by default. So that's the problem and that's what you
see so many people spetching their heads right now that
what's happening here.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, the worst scenario for Curtis Sliwa is going to
be if you add up the votes of Cuomo and Sliwa,
that they're enough to have defeated Mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, that would be the worst. And you know, you know,
Larry the most powerful man in New York City right now,
his name is Curtis Sliwa, and Curtis Stiwa can look
at his voter and say, listen, I gave it by all,
but it's become abundantly clear. Let's just do this and
hold our nos. And he could change the course of
history right now if he wanted to. So he is
right now the most powerful man in New York City
until the election. That he knows it.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I did have. I did a final thought on
this very thing, that he's been a hero from New
York so many times as a guardian angel, and he
could do it one more time and be known forever,
be legendary by stoppings or in mom Donnie, I just
don't think he's going to do it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Jac I don't think he's going to do it either.
And that's why it's incumbent among the Cuomo campaign to
speak to Republicans, conservatives independent of the city. Hey, I
know you may not like me. We've gone to war
many times, and boy do we disagree with a lot
of things. But one thing we agree with is that
Mamdannie would be dangerous for the city, and I need
your support because you and I could work together if
(07:11):
he makes that appeal to them directly and just recognize
the fact that they've been at odds for all these
years and he knows why. But he needs their support
and ask for their vote. That's the only way at
this point he has to get his own votes going
out there.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, absolutely right. We've had him on the show here.
He's appealed directly to Republicans and Conservatives. They seem to
be half of them at least rejecting them. JC Polanco
can't wait to talk to you on election that. I
know you're going to be busy. Just squeeze us in. J. C.
Polonco always great analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent
(07:46):
Assistant Professor and attorney.
Well, now let's get to Jac Polanco, political analyst and
University of Mount Saint Vincent assistant professor and attorney. Jac
helped me out for a second with these polls. I
know you study this stuff all of the time. Polls
are all over the place. Let me give you a
few of them right now. So we have the Maris
poll he's mom don he's up ten. Then we have
(00:21):
Manhattan Institute, he's up fifteen, Suffolk he's up ten. Emberson
he's up twenty five. When you see that kind of disparity,
how do you read that? What do you do? Where
do you think the race is based on those polls?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning, first, Nary, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The polls are all over the place.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm looking at the Emerson picks eleven is that is
a twenty five point difference, which would mean it's a blowout.
I think because some others, and you're right, like the
Kunipiac one makes it a closer rease at ten points.
That means that this is going to be one of
those elections where the polls are going to be off right.
There won't be exactly on. It's not going to be
something where you're going to see it and go, oh,
(01:06):
clearly the post got it right. What I think is
going to happen here is that the outliers are wrong.
The outliers are the ones that are going to be wrong.
So on election night, I'm thinking that there are going
to be a lot more undecideds that are going to
come in, people that don't want to express who they're
going to vote for to come in. And this election
is going to be a lot closer. So if I
(01:28):
were putting about our betting man, I would bet on
it being a much closer race in some of the blowouts.
What's concerning, Larry, though, and I have to be honest
with you, is that during the primary election, the Emerson
poll tended to be more in line with reality. And
that's concerning and that that was during the primary. During
the primary, the Emerson poll showed Mamdani beating Cuomo in
(01:51):
the primary. It was the only one that did so.
When I saw the Emerson poll this morning and I
saw a twenty five point blowout, I said, this type though, however,
they got it wrong. But one thing became becomes very
clear to many of your listeners and many of your
folks that follow you is that Curtis lewa is there
some real damage in this race. And I think he's
(02:11):
he's going to course earth and I think he's trying
to be number two. I don't see so many attacks
on Mom Donni right now heading into election day, and
I think he wants to go out and say, you
know what, my friends hurt me. I'm going to show
the world that I should have been the candidate that
they should have coalesced behind, and I'm going to come
out of this at number two. Because if you take
a look at the Emerson poll, it shows him at
around twenty one. So I think that he's lasered in
(02:34):
focused on making sure that CMO's beating up a lot
before election day, which may you know, I'm scratching my
head to this.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Day on debth Well, I know for a fact he
hates Andrew Cuomo and has for a long long time,
so this might be very personal to him as well.
But you're right, it's been pretty apparent for a long
time that he's not going to get out of this race.
What about the early voting so far, what do you
read into that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, we've seen a five thirty percent increase in the
number of people that are coming out to vote early. Now,
there's been some excitement among a lot of Centrists and
Independence and some conservatives even because a lot of the
folks that came out are older like us, right, So
we we saw those large numbers and said, maybe perhaps
(03:21):
there is going to be a united opposition heading into
the weekend before election day. And that's what it looks
like right now. But let's not forget that Mamdani is
the one with a very energetic campaign where people are
just crazy about him. It's almost like the Cult of
Mamdani I call it. Because these people are so excited
and energetic behind this campaign that they may they may
(03:43):
come out in large droves on the weekend before election
day and on election day. So that's why it's so
important for people that are in the opposition polls and
just come out and vote in large numbers. Vote as
much as you can tell your friends to come out
and vote, and don't put attention to these polls as
much as getting out and bringing out your friends to
the polls on election day or the weekend before. Remember
(04:03):
that this weekend will be the last time you get
to vote early, so you got to come out and
vote and make sure that you're hurt.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I just heard you say to people, vote as much
as you can, so you know what New York elections
can be like. If you're asking telling people to vote
more than once.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, listen, English is my second language.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
That's not what I met. Give me some grace, Larry.
I meant, get out, get your people out as much
as you can. Let me refrac to get them out
and vote, and.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Get as many of your friends out and tell people
to vote as much as possible. That's what I meant.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I thought you were suggesting.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But yeah, you know, you know, Larry, there is there's
still time to shock the world. There's still time to
shot the world. But it's getting very late at this point.
These polls are concerning. But if we look at these polls,
we get depressed, and you know, you and me, Larry,
we go to therapy. So let's not look at these
polls and let's try to get as many people out
to vote as pop.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Here's what's fascinating about the polls. They base their polling
on past elections and trends and likely voters. I think
that's all thrown out the window in this election. I
think this is going to be an aberration, and there's
going to be more people voting in this election than
ever before, and we don't know who's coming out. You
talk about the energized Mamdammi voters, I think that there's
(05:23):
many people energized against him and can can are equal
to what he has the people that don't want him.
But I understand he is the central figure in the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Larry, you're right. But the problem is, Larry, is that
that's it's divided. You understand, You're absolutely right. There are
more New Yorkers that don't want assemble the Mamdanie to
win than there are. But the problem is that those
voters are divided between two camps you follow. So, yes,
you're right. But if the energy is behind Siwa and
Pomo going with the election that he wins, Mamdani wins
(05:57):
by default. So that's the problem and that's what you
see so many people spetching their heads right now that
what's happening here.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, the worst scenario for Curtis Sliwa is going to
be if you add up the votes of Cuomo and Sliwa,
that they're enough to have defeated Mom Donnie.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, that would be the worst. And you know, you know,
Larry the most powerful man in New York City right now,
his name is Curtis Sliwa, and Curtis Stiwa can look
at his voter and say, listen, I gave it by all,
but it's become abundantly clear. Let's just do this and
hold our nos. And he could change the course of
history right now if he wanted to. So he is
right now the most powerful man in New York City
until the election. That he knows it.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I did have. I did a final thought on
this very thing, that he's been a hero from New
York so many times as a guardian angel, and he
could do it one more time and be known forever,
be legendary by stoppings or in mom Donnie, I just
don't think he's going to do it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Jac I don't think he's going to do it either.
And that's why it's incumbent among the Cuomo campaign to
speak to Republicans, conservatives independent of the city. Hey, I
know you may not like me. We've gone to war
many times, and boy do we disagree with a lot
of things. But one thing we agree with is that
Mamdannie would be dangerous for the city, and I need
your support because you and I could work together if
(07:11):
he makes that appeal to them directly and just recognize
the fact that they've been at odds for all these
years and he knows why. But he needs their support
and ask for their vote. That's the only way at
this point he has to get his own votes going
out there.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, absolutely right. We've had him on the show here.
He's appealed directly to Republicans and Conservatives. They seem to
be half of them at least rejecting them. JC Polanco
can't wait to talk to you on election that. I
know you're going to be busy. Just squeeze us in. J. C.
Polonco always great analyst and University of Mount Saint Vincent
(07:46):
Assistant Professor and attorney.
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