Gelinas: “Corporeal emptiness” is such an important time period!
Staples: Nicole, thanks for the shout-out to my Twelfth-grade English instructor, Ms. Riley.
Kirtzman: To Brent’s level, polls have found huge numbers of New Yorkers really feel the town goes within the incorrect course. And concern of crime is, arguably, the No. 1 driver of that. I used to be on a stalled subway prepare not too long ago, trapped in a tunnel for 5 to 10 minutes as a big, deranged man screamed at us. It was a scary second, and I questioned, as I usually do, whether or not our leaders actually perceive what goes on down there. In that sense it’s no shock to me that Cuomo’s message is that he has come to save lots of the day (so to talk). I believe his video was pitch good in that sense.
Gelinas: There isn’t a query that metropolis voters are sad with public security and high quality of life, and that their unhappiness has been backed up by some crime charges (double-digit percentages greater than the pre-Covid norm, in some instances). However! Right here’s one other bizarre factor at a bizarre time in (one other) bizarre yr: Don’t look now, however the crime stats are literally wanting fairly sharply good for the primary two months of this yr — felony crime charges are down double digits from final yr (though nonetheless greater than pre-Covid), and we didn’t have a subway homicide throughout the first two months of the yr, the primary time since earlier than Covid. I do not know whether or not these stats will proceed, and/or will translate right into a modified public notion, but it surely’s a (fairly welcome) early shock on this race.
Homosexual: A lot of what we’re actually speaking about right here isn’t nearly crime or public security, however the way in which New York Metropolis felt earlier than the pandemic in comparison with afterward. Do you assume that’s what could also be driving nostalgia for Cuomo? Or is it one thing extra?
Gelinas: Completely, when it comes to the general public feeling. That’s why I discovered it unusual that Cuomo was selling a communal Covid success story this week — the concept we beat Covid. Leaving apart whether or not or not we did and who, if anybody, was accountable, I simply don’t assume the general public has a sense of “Yay, we actually beat Covid and are thriving now due to it!” that Cuomo can faucet into. As for what’s driving what Mara calls nostalgia, I believe for Cuomo, for now, it’s extra the title recognition, a public notion that he can really get sure targets achieved primarily based on previous efficiency, and a dearth of centrist candidates within the Democratic major area.
