New Poll Highlights Bloomberg’s Vulnerabilities Ahead of Democratic DebatePolls show significant declines for Bloomberg in Super Tuesday states when hit as Republican oligarch, stop-and-frisk, and attitudes toward women
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A newly released poll conducted by Data for Progress and Organize for Justice, the sister organization of Justice Democrats, shows Michael Bloomberg has deep vulnerabilities among likely Democratic voters. The poll tested contrast messaging on Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk policy, his history of misogynistic statements, and Bloomberg as a Republican oligarch trying to purchase the Democratic Party.
“Bloomberg’s record as a Republican oligarch, as the architect of stop-and-frisk, and as a businessman with troubling patterns of mistreating women are extremely problematic for many Democratic voters,” said Alexandra Rojas, Executive Director of Justice Democrats. “We need a nominee who can energize Democrats to vote, not someone who has spent his career hurting core constituencies in our party.”
Bloomberg seen as Republican oligarch
Polling 3,320 likely Democratic voters in five key Super Tuesday states, the results show Bloomberg’s support dropping 2.6 points and his favorability 4 points when hit on these messages. The five states polled were Texas, California, North Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia.
“The results here show how vulnerable Bloomberg is to negative messaging,” said Sean McElwee of Data for Progress. “Those 2.6 percentage points would move him from 2nd to 3rd in most national polls.”
The poll’s key findings include:
- Each of the three negative frames provided drove up Bloomberg’s unfavorability rating from the 30% baseline, and drove down his primary vote share from the 23.5% baseline.
- Both Bloomberg as a Republican oligarch and his pattern of demeaning women decreased support by about 2.5%, while his stop and frisk history was about half as effective.
- Among black voters, messages around Bloomberg being a Republican oligarch and his pattern of mistreating women were also more successful than messages about stop-and-frisk.
- Bloomberg’s mistreatment of women drove up his unfavorability rating by about 4% and the Republican oligarch frame by 2%. Bloomberg’s support of stop-and-frisk drove up unfavorability by about 1.4%.
