Andrew Yang opens up huge lead in race to be next New York City mayor

Former presidential candidate now clear frontrunner to replace Bill de Blasio

Andrew Yang has opened up a huge lead in the race to become the next mayor of New York City, a new poll suggests.

The former presidential candidate is way out ahead of rival candidates in the Democratic primary and is now the clear frontrunner to replace Bill de Blasio.

Mr Yang, a tech entrepreneur and CNN political commentator, has 28 per cent support among likely Democratic primary voters, according to the poll from Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics.

Mr Yang’s closest rival, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, had 17 per cent support, while New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer had 13 per cent.

Former Obama administration official Shaun Donovan , and activist Maya Wiley, were tied in fourth spot with eight per cent.

Mr Yang developed a national profile during his run for the 2020 presidential nomination, and has a strong online following with 1.9 million Twitter followers.

And that translates into him having the highest name recognition in the primary race, with 84 per cent of those polled knowing who he is.

Mr Yang has argued for a universal basic income, which would see all adult Americans paid $1,000 a month.

He was diagnosed with coronavirus last week and is currently in quarantine. He has been critical of white New Yorkers getting vaccinated at a quicker rate than minority communities.

The primary for both Democrats and Republicans will take place on 22 June, followed by a general election on 2 November.

The poll was taken from 842 online interviews with likely Democratic voters in New York City and has a sampling error of 3.38 percentage points.