Bloomberg Surges in Polls

Michael Bloomberg has experienced a massive surge in the polls recently (Flickr).

The former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has surged in the polls in recent weeks, according to the latest ABC/Washington Post polls. Bloomberg soared to third place at 14 percent behind former Vice President Joe Biden (16 percent) and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) (32 percent). This follows poor performances from Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary. 

Bloomberg, who is the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes, has taken an unconventional path to attempt to win the Democratic nomination. He skipped the early primary and caucus states, hoping to capitalize on the delegate-rich Super Tuesday primaries. 

Bloomberg hopes to occupy the moderate lane of the party, especially given Vice President Biden’s fall in the polls. Bloomberg has criticized both Warren and Sanders for Medicare-For-All, wealth taxes, and other big-government proposals. 

The business mogul has spent over $233 million on digital and television campaign advertisements, according to the Washington Post. 

Rufus Gifford, the former finance director for the Obama campaign, said Bloomberg’s spending and strategy “is unprecedented… He remains a long-shot, but when you have Donald Trump as president and one of the 10 richest people running for president, anything can happen.”

As a result of his recent performance, Bloomberg became a target for his other primary competitors. In the most recent Las Vegas debate, Senator Warren took aim at Bloomberg, saying “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians. And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”