New Philly mayor’s race poll showed a four-person race with Helen Gym leading slightly

Four candidates for Philadelphia mayor are within striking distance of winning the Democratic nomination, according to a new poll released Friday that sets up an intense final weekend of campaigning ahead of the Tuesday primary.

An Emerson College/ PHL17 survey of 600 voters conducted this week showed a tight race at the top, with progressive former City Councilmember Helen Gym holding a slight edge at 21%. Ex-Councilmember Cherelle Parker and former Controller Rebecca Rhynhart were each at 18%, and former Councilmember Allan Domb was at 14%. All are within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

The poll showed ShopRite proprietor Jeff Brown, who was once considered a front-runner, garnered 10%.

One in six of those polled said they were undecided.

The findings are roughly similar to a poll commissioned by the good government group Committee of Seventy, which last month showed the top five candidates, including Brown, all within the margin of error.

Emerson’s poll is another data point showing that the election is remarkably competitive, especially among three women in a city that has never had a female mayor. The race is one of the only times in modern city history that as many as five candidates have a path to win the primary election, and the nominee will be heavily favored to prevail in the general election in deep-blue Philadelphia.

And as of last week, the race was already the most expensive in city history, with candidates and their allies spending well over $30 million since campaigning began in September.

Over the next several days, the front-runners — alongside the labor unions, political organizations, and elected officials backing them — will try to sway undecided voters and motivate supporters to go to the polls. Candidates are crisscrossing the city to talk to residents, hosting rallies over the weekend, and appearing alongside volunteers who are fanning out in neighborhoods to knock on doors.

Several candidates have major events planned for the weekend. Parker is hosting a get-out-the-vote pep rally on Saturday that will have musical performances. And Gym is headlining a Sunday event alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, who are leaders of the nation’s progressive movement and have endorsed Gym.

» READ MORE: Voters guide: What you need to know about the 2023 primary candidates

On Friday morning, Gym greeted parents and students outside Gilbert Spruance Elementary School in Northeast Philadelphia, where she handed out literature and implored teachers to talk to voters outside polling places on Tuesday.

“The stakes of this election could not be more clear,” she told a group of teachers. “I don’t think we have ever had a better chance to do more and prove more about what our schools and our city can do and become.”

PFT President Jerry Jordan, one of Gym’s top surrogates, said despite the new polling, the campaign and its supporters are “running like we’re running from behind.”

“The only polls that matter are the ones the voters go to on Tuesday,” he said.

Many of those voters have still not made up their minds.

Emerson found that undecided voters, when pressed, roughly split their votes among the top candidates. When those voters were asked which candidate they would lean toward, Gym’s support increased to 23%, Parker’s to 21%, Rhynhart’s to 20%, and Domb’s to 17%.

The electorate was also divided along racial lines, with Parker’s base of support being solidly Black voters. She is the only Black candidate among the top contenders, and has focused much of her campaigning in majority-Black neighborhoods. Rhynhart, Gym, and Domb split the white vote, and Gym led among Latino and Asian respondents.

There was also a clear split by age. Gym led with voters younger than 50, holding a 10-point lead over Rhynhart, who came in second with that group. Parker won the most support among people older than 50, pulling 24% of those voters.

The pollsters also asked how voters perceive each candidate, finding that Rhynhart had the highest favorability rating at 60%, and Brown — who has weathered a series of controversies — with the highest unfavorable rating at 39%.

Emerson conducted its poll May 7-9 and reached respondents through phone calls, as well as text messages that directed respondents to an online survey.