The Fall of New York City in 8 Charts

How did an Islamist socialist who posed with an unindicted terror bombing coconspirator become elected to head a city of terror survivors, the “most Jewish city in America” and how did he defeat an Italian-American political dynasty in what was once an Italian-American city?

Because that New York City, the one people imagine from movies, no longer exists.  

In 1989, the last year of Mayor Ed Koch’s administration, Jews outnumbered Muslims roughly 4 to 1. By 2013, the last year of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, the number of Muslims had doubled and the number of Jews continued to drop.

And by the time Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo, there were more Muslims than Italian Americans in NYC.

So much for New York City being the “most Jewish city” in America. Or “Italian city”. Like so many European cities, it’s been redefined by waves of Muslim mass migration.

There wasn’t an Irish candidate in the race because the number of Irish-Americans in what is considered “one of the most Irish city in America” long ago dropped below that of Muslims.

Never mind the Polish population represented by Curtis Sliwa which is even smaller.

New York City’s old ‘ethnic’ working class population is gone. Much of it fled the chaos and violence of the 1970s and 1980s. By the time Mayor Rudy Giuliani restored order by cracking down on crime, they didn’t come back. Instead they were replaced by college students, hipsters and third world immigrants who not only voted for Democrats, but for the far Left.

5 million residents were born outside New York City. Less than 4 million were born in the city.

While New Yorkers went for Cuomo, 50% to 38% for Mamdani, those who had lived in the city for 10 years or less went for Mamdani by 82% to 16%.

This reflects both external mass immigration but internal migration from other parts of the country. Another way to measure the foreign population in New York City is to look at the proportion of those to whom English is a second language. The number of non-English speakers has been steadily rising since 1990 and the number of English speakers declined from 63% to 52%.

It’s now almost even.

Much of New York City no longer even speaks English. That’s why Mamdani could campaign in Arabic.

While a lot of parts of the country, including Florida, complain about New Yorkers moving there, New Yorkers (while they still existed in NYC) complained about non-New Yorkers moving to the city. 

This internal migration by non-New Yorkers sent prices soaring and fundamentally altered the character of the city from a tough working class and middle class city to a hipster paradise.

The college students who moved to the city and got jobs here were less likely to get married and form families leading to Manhattan becoming one of the largest (and certainly the densest) reservoirs of singles in the country. Combined with the growth in ‘single parent’ households among minority groups, the New York City of families has disappeared.

A majority of households in New York City are single now. The number of families continues to drop. While exit polls didn’t ask about marital status, single people tend to vote more liberal.

Pre-election polls showed Mamdani winning over only 16% of Jews, 28% among Catholics and 36% among Protestants. The only ‘religious’ group Mamdani performed were “Other” which presumably were boosted by his Muslim voter base. How does a politician lose religious people by decisive numbers and yet win a mayoral election? Religion has been declining as well. Especially among white New Yorkers.

The religiously affiliated are still a majority, but the numbers of the religiously unaffiliated have been rising sharply. Among those 45 years old and younger, the group that Mamdani won, the gap is 60% to 40%. The gap is narrower still, 55% to 45%,  among those under 30, and among those under 25 years old, it’s split evenly. Among white New Yorkers, a majority are unaffiliated.

These were some of Mamdani’s best voters.

 Paradoxically (or not so paradoxically) the lack of real religiosity among New York City’s Christian and Jewish populations is part of the reason why an Islamist won the mayoralty.

Mamdani’s defeat of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams, all personalities dating back to an older New York City, the city of the 80s and 90s, marked the defeat of old New York City by a ‘new’ New York City. This city has no character, no tradition and no roots. It’s interchangeable with every upscale gentrified city in America and all across Europe.

This Neo-New York could just as easily be London or Toronto. It has no past and no future. Like Mamdani, it’s not part of America, and is open to being colonized by any group with organization, determination and a mission. What was done to London is happening to New York City. It’s futile to ask why New Yorkers are letting this happen, like me, they no longer live there.