There was some applause when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo offered that he had tried marijuana in college, and even some laughter when he wryly noted that the public would have a better sense of Cynthia Nixon’s personal worth if she released more tax returns.

But at a debate watch party at Syndicated, a popular movie theater-bar-restaurant hybrid in the heart of gentrifying Brooklyn, that was about the sum of the accolades for Mr. Cuomo.

Long before the start of Wednesday night’s debate between Mr. Cuomo and Ms. Nixon — their first and only before next month’s primary — it became obvious that the governor was not in for a warm reception. A man in a Cynthia Nixon T-shirt chatted with another man at the bar; across from them was one sporting a Bernie Sanders shirt. Another, in a shirt emblazoned with “Abolish ICE,” scanned the room for a seat.

At around 6 p.m., an hour before the debate aired, the sleek, high-ceilinged room was mostly empty; by 6:30 p.m., there was hardly room to navigate. By the time the debate began at 7 p.m., sweaty elbows were pressed against sweaty arms, and even the candidates wouldn’t have argued that the temperature in the room had soared well past comfortable. A moderator, WCBS-TV’s Maurice DuBois, first introduced Mr. Cuomo — silence — and then Ms. Nixon — rousing applause.