He hasn’t even announced he’s actually running, and already he’s on his way to the White House.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tops President Trump by 6 points in a hypothetical 2020 match-up, according to the Morning Consult/Politico survey released early Sunday.
Bloomberg, who filed as a Democratic presidential candidate in Alabama on Friday because of the state’s early filing deadline, also leaped over some other candidates who have been running for months to win the 2020 Democratic nomination.
According to the Nov. 8 poll, “4 percent of Democratic primary voters said the billionaire and former Republican would be their first choice for the party’s nomination to take on Trump next year — placing him above 10 candidates currently in the race,” Morning Consult wrote.
The poll found that among voters overall, Bloomberg fares about as well as Warren, Sanders and Biden when matched up against Trump. Forty-three percent of voters nationwide said they would support Bloomberg in a hypothetical election, while 37 percent said they’d vote for the incumbent Republican, a 6-point advantage that matches Warren’s margin over Trump. But, 21 percent of voters said they were undecided, a larger share than in the other general-election matchups. The head-to-head matchups have a 3-point margin of error.
Contrary to several other polls, former Vice President Joe Biden leads all other candidates at 31%. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is second at 20% and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is third at 18%. South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris round out the top five at 8% and 6%.
It’s unclear whether Bloomberg will go all in. And there’s one more high-profile Democrat out there who may still enter the race.
A new poll released last week by the conservative cable channel Fox News shows 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton running ahead of Trump.
Conducted Oct. 27-30, the survey found Clinton up 43% to 41% in a hypothetical race against Trump, who also runs behind Biden by 51-39, Warren 46-41 and Sanders 49-41, the Fox poll found.
Clinton has kept the door open for a 2020 race. With several polls showing Biden plunging and Warren and Sanders having hit a ceiling, a late Clinton entrance is not inconceivable. Were she to jump into the race, Clinton, with her nationwide name recognition, could likely build a national campaign in short order.
“Maybe there does need to be a rematch,” Clinton said last month on PBS’ “NewsHour.”
“Obviously, I can beat him again. But, just seriously, I don’t understand, I don’t think anybody understands what motivates him other than personal grievance, other than seeking adulation,” she said, referring to her receiving about 3 million more votes from Americans, although she lost the Electoral College vote 304-227.
Former White House aide Steve Bannon predicts Clinton will make a third attempt for the presidency. “Hillary Clinton is doing a whole thing,” he said this month. “She is running. She’s just throwing to decide how to fit her way in.”
Meanwhile, other polls show Trump falling short in hypothetical races with potential Democratic nominees. A survey conducted by The New York Times and Siena College showed Biden beating Trump in four of the six battleground states that the president won in 2016. Biden has a 5-point lead on Trump in Arizona, is up 3 points in Pennsylvania, and leads by two in Wisconsin and Florida. The pair are dead even in Michigan, while Trump leads in North Carolina by 2 points.