In the race for New York City’s mayoral seat, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is holding a strong 16-point lead over his nearest rival, independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, according to a poll released Thursday morning.

The poll, conducted by Marist University, reveals Mamdani leading Cuomo with a 48% to 32% advantage. This survey comes as a significant number of New Yorkers have already participated in early voting for the upcoming November 4th election. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa trails behind with 16% support.

The findings indicate that Mamdani’s lead remains steady. A previous Marist poll from September 16 showed Mamdani with 46% backing from likely voters, while Cuomo garnered 30%, maintaining the same 16-point gap. At that time, Sliwa was at 18%.

The latest poll was conducted over four days, from last Friday to Tuesday, and surveyed 1,134 likely voters in the city. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

In a bid to close the gap, Cuomo has been campaigning vigorously, encouraging Republican voters to abandon Sliwa in his favor, positioning himself as the only viable alternative to Mamdani. Supporting this strategy, super PACs backing Cuomo have invested millions in advertisements to amplify this message.

Cuomo has recently been trying to close the gap with Mamdani by urging Republican voters to not “waste” their vote on Sliwa and instead support him, arguing he’s the only candidate with a real shot at beating the frontrunner. Pro-Cuomo super PACs have pumped millions of dollars into ads spreading that message, too.

The Marist poll projects it wouldn’t necessarily benefit Cuomo if Sliwa drops out of the race, though.

In fact, the poll says 51% of Sliwa’s supporters would support Mamdani if the Republican dropped out, while 44% would back Cuomo.

Sliwa has said he will not drop out of the race under any circumstance. Early voting started this past Saturday.

The latest Marist screening is consistent with most polling of the general mayoral election, as Mamdani has clinched double-digit leads in just about all recent surveys.