WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic candidate wins. throughout Tuesday’s major races.And there were signs there was plenty of room for Democrats to regain ground among the group heading toward President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
The findings come from the AP Voter Poll, a massive survey of more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City that reveals who voted in each election and their views on the state’s top issues.
Despite the landslide victory, the survey also revealed fault lines within the Democratic Party. Young men were less likely than young women to support Democrats in the gubernatorial race, and New York City’s Jewish voters seemed wary of supporting Democratic candidate Zoran Mamdani.
See how key demographic groups voted in 2025, according to AP Voter Polls.
The majority of young voters in New York City voted for Mamdani.
Mamdani, 34, will take over. The city’s youngest mayor in more than a century. In a generational battle between former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, young voters in New York City overwhelmingly supported him.
About three-quarters of New York City voters under 30 voted for Mamdani. They made up a relatively small minority of the city’s voters, and they were also much more likely than older voters to say it was their first time voting in a mayoral election.
Older voters were more likely to support Mr. Cuomo than Mr. Mamdani, but a sizable share still supported the Democratic candidate. About two in 10 Mamdani voters were under 30, while Cuomo and Sliwa’s voters skewed significantly older.
mamdani he identifies as a democratic socialist Echoing the branding of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez throughout their campaign. About a quarter of New York City voters say they are a democratic socialist, and about 4 in 10 New York City voters under 30 say they are a democratic socialist.
Sherrill performed well among black, Asian, and Hispanic voters.
Democrats’ strong performance with nonwhite voters in New Jersey and Virginia was promising for the party after President Trump won over black and Hispanic voters in 2024.
Roughly seven in 10 New Jersey voters are white, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill won about half of them. But she made up for it by showing strong support among black, Hispanic, and Asian voters. A majority of black voters (about 9 in 10) supported Sherrill, and about 8 in 10 Asian voters supported Sherrill.
New Jersey’s Hispanic voters were even more divided, with about two-thirds supporting Sherrill. Only 3 in 10 people voted for Republican candidate Jack Ciatarelli.
The pattern was similar in Virginia, where Democrat Abigail Spanberger did well among black voters, Hispanic voters, and Asian voters, even though she failed to win a majority of white voters.
Muslim voters supported Mamdani, but most Jewish voters supported Cuomo.
Mamdani became New York’s first Muslim mayor and won a majority of Muslim voters. About nine in 10 Muslim voters supported Mamdani, according to an Associated Press voter poll. They made up a very small group of voters in New York City, with about 4% of New York City voters being Muslim.
No other candidate received such uniform support from religious groups, but while Mr. Cuomo claimed the support of about 6 in 10 Jewish voters, only about 3 in 10 voted for Mr. Mamdani.
The support of Cuomo among Jewish voters was the culmination of months of unrest and division within the nation’s largest Jewish community. many voters and leaders He expressed concern about Mamdani’s harsh criticism of Israel.
About half of New York City’s Jewish and Muslim voters said a candidate’s position on Israel was a “major factor” in their vote.
Young voters enthusiastically supported the Democratic Party, especially women.
The majority of voters under 30 voted for Democratic candidates in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and the New York mayoral race, but young women were especially likely to support the Democratic Party.
In New Jersey, about 8 in 10 women under 30 supported Sherrill, as did just over half of men under 30. The same was true in Virginia, where about 8 in 10 women under 30 voted for Mr. Spanberger and about 6 in 10 men under 30 voted for Mr. Spanberger.
There was also a gender gap among older voters, but it was not as large. For example, just over half of women over 65 support Cheryl, compared to about four in 10 men over 65.
Federal employee households support Spanberger
The disruption to federal workers over the past year, including the ongoing government shutdown, has been especially felt in Virginia. About 2 in 10 Virginia voters said they currently live with someone who is employed by the federal government or as a federal contractor, according to the poll.
Voters with a federal employee in their household were more likely to support Mr. Spanberger than other voters. Roughly two-thirds of voters living in households with a current federal employee or contractor voted for Mr. Spanberger, compared with just over half of voters in households without a family member working in the government.
Additionally, about 6 in 10 Virginia voters said their family’s finances were affected “a lot” or “a little” by federal budget cuts this year. About two-thirds of voters supported Mr. Spanberger, and about six in 10 voters who said they were unaffected by the cuts supported Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears.
Veteran households voted against Sherrill, but Sherrill won anyway.
Veterans Households did not support Cheryl, but she won without their support.
Cheryl is a Navy veteran; faced questions over cheating scandal Currently attending the United States Naval Academy. She won about 4 out of 10 voters from U.S. military households, while about 6 out of 10 voters from veteran households voted for her opponent, Ciatarelli. In New Jersey, veteran households accounted for about a quarter of voters.
Virginia voters were even more likely to say that someone in their family had served in the U.S. military, about four in 10. Mr. Spanberger won about half of Virginia’s veteran households.
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of 2025 AP Pollwas conducted by SSRS from October 22 to November 4 and includes representative samples of registered voters in California (4,490), New Jersey (4,244), New York City (4,304), and Virginia (4,215). The AP Voter Poll combines data collected from active registered voters online and by phone with data collected directly from voters on Election Day in about 30 precincts per state or city, excluding California. Respondents can complete the survey in English or Spanish. The overall margin of sampling error for voters, accounting for design effects, is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points in California, 2.1 percentage points in New Jersey, 2.2 percentage points in New York City, and 2.1 percentage points in Virginia.
