Zohran Mamdani Won on Substance, Not Just Style
Critics allege that Zohran Mamdani only won New York City’s mayoral election because of slick social media content and easily wooed voters. On the contrary, an analysis finds that his messaging contained vastly more policy detail than Andrew Cuomo’s.
Far from lacking in substance, Zohran Mamdani’s campaign videos were functional vehicles for policy discussions. (Adam Gray / AFP via Getty Images)
Throughout New York City’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani’s critics routinely attributed his rise to his slick and entertaining social media content, allowing them to dismiss the appeal of his politics. It’s certainly true that Mamdani’s social media was more successful than Andrew Cuomo’s. But is it true that voters were merely wooed by Mamdani’s high production quality and style?
To find out, Jacobin analyzed each campaign’s first thirty TikTok videos. What we found was another, much more prominent difference between Cuomo’s and Mamdani’s social media content. Our analysis suggests that the core distinction between the two candidates’ communication strategies was not style but policy.
By tallying mentions of keywords, we were able to quantify how much time each candidate devoted to policy. Take the word rent. Across these first thirty videos, Mamdani said it eighteen times, while Cuomo did not say it at all. Working class, ten to zero. Childcare, four to zero. Buses, fifteen to zero. Affordable, seven to one. Groceries, four to zero. Cost of living, four to zero. Labor, two to two. Wealth, six to zero. Trump, twenty-five to seven. Gaza, four to zero. Palestine, five to zero. Antisemitism, zero to three. Climate, four to zero. Public renewables, three to zero. Police/cops, three to seven. Safe, one to fourteen.
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