The most recent poll by Gotham Polling shows that New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mandami’s negative ratings are rising but that his vote share is not yet dropping.

Mandami still wins 42% of the vote, leading the field though his negative ratings have almost doubled from the high 30s to 47% the exact same level as his positives.

As voters learn the truth about Mandami, they come to see him negatively but still intend to vote for him because there is nobody else.

Former N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is stuck at 23% and going nowhere according to the Gotham poll. Adams remains mired at a paltry 9% of the vote.

The Republican, Curtis Sliwa gets 17% as his partisan identification continues to hold him down.

But . . . Mandami is not a done deal.

Cuomo can’t move up.

His negatives are too strong and neither can currfent mayor Eric Adams.

But . . . Sliwa can move up.

Only his party is holding him back and, given the negatives on the other three candidates, being a Republican shouldn’t be fatal.

We have to give the race time to unfold.

Mandami’s negatives are going to keep rising and voters will get increasingly frustrated by the lack of alternative choices facing them.

Cuomo’s alleged culpability in the  death of 6,000 elderly New Yorkers, forced into nursing homes filled with highly contagious COVID-19 patients during the pandemic makes him unelectable.

New Yorkers will also strongly dislike having to pay half a million in damages for the governor’s involvement in sexual harassment, directed at employees, while in office.

Adams, with sky high negatives after four years as mayor, shows no sign of rising even above ten percent of the vote.

So who’s left?

Curtis Sliwa.

Ultimately New York Democrats need to forgive him, as well as his party.

He’s pro abortion rights and no mouthpiece for Trump. His crime fighting credentials are impeccable. LaGuardia, Lindsay, and Giuliani governed well despite their party and so would Sliwa.