Six months into his tenure as New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani has accomplished something his predecessors rarely managed: he has neutralized the New York Post's attack machine.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid has hammered Mamdani relentlessly since his late 2024 campaign launch, lobbing charges that range from the political to the absurd. He has been branded a communist, a cop-hater, an antisemite, and even criticized for his bench press form. In a single three-day stretch this week, the Post published 29 stories tagged with his name, attacking everything from his stance on Israel to his wife's vacation to a perceived slight against Little Italy.
Yet the offensive has backfired. A Siena University poll from late June showed Mamdani's favorability actually climbing over the previous two months, with 58 percent of New Yorkers approving of his performance and only 26 percent disapproving. Those numbers outpace the Democratic Party itself.
The contrast with previous liberal mayors is stark. Bill de Blasio, also a progressive, served two terms from 2014 to 2021, but the Post's relentless drumbeat of criticism weakened his political standing and derailed both his agenda and his subsequent presidential ambitions. The tabloid had found a simple, sticky message: the feckless liberal who cannot govern.
No such narrative has taken hold with Mamdani. According to media analysts tracking the dynamic, the Post appears caught in a "spaghetti against the wall" strategy, throwing every possible criticism at the mayor in hopes that something will stick.
"They got that with De Blasio, and they got that quickly," said Ross Barkan, an author and columnist whose upcoming book profiles Mamdani's political trajectory. "Mamdani isn't like that. He can't run for president because he's a naturalized citizen, so he's not distracted by national ambitions. At the same time, he's such a national figure that you can't argue with a straight face that he isn't relevant or taken seriously by Democrats across the country."
Part of Mamdani's success appears rooted in his own media sophistication. Rather than relying on the Post's traditional role as gatekeeper of New York's political narrative, Mamdani has built independent channels to communicate directly with voters, sidestepping the tabloid altogether.
"One of the problems for the Post is that Mamdani understands media," said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America. "He's out-Murdoch-ing Murdoch. The Post's power came from being the mainline into the zeitgeist. What Mamdani does is bypass that process entirely. He has his own distribution system, his own ability to engage the public. He doesn't rely on a third-party system; he's his own storyteller."
The mayor's political influence extends beyond his own office. Three congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani won their primaries in June, a sign of his expanding clout within Democratic circles.
The Post's pre-election warnings, meanwhile, have proven overblown. The tabloid predicted companies would flee the city, crime would skyrocket, and bankruptcy loomed. Instead, more office space was leased in the first quarter of 2026 than in the previous quarter, with no evidence of mass business relocation.
"Everything was apocalyptic, but the amount they've overexaggerated all these things becomes self-defeating," Carusone said. "The Post is basically saying it's going to be a war zone, and yet people are not feeling that day to day. The vibes are actually pretty good."
For now, the Post continues publishing multiple pieces on Mamdani daily, apparently unsure how to recalibrate its approach. But the political math has shifted. While the tabloid may boost its page views with another day of attacks, the impact on voters appears minimal.
Author James Rodriguez: "Mamdani has cracked the code that eluded de Blasio and other progressive mayors: he refuses to play the Post's game on the Post's terms, and New Yorkers are noticing the difference."
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