Hillary Clinton vs. Michael Bloomberg

Some pundits have suggested that liberal darling Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, should jump into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but is he really a threat to frontrunner Hillary Clinton?

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that in a hypothetical matchup of the two, Clinton earns 69% support among Likely Democratic Voters. Twenty percent (20%) favor Bloomberg. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate, while six percent (6%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

In another hypothetical contest, first lady Michelle Obama runs a closer race, losing to Clinton by a 56% to 22% margin, with 22% who prefer someone else or are undecided.

Among all voters, Clinton leads Bloomberg 41% to 29%. Twenty-one percent (21%) favor some other candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

But Democratic voters certainly like Bloomberg more than others. The Republican-who-turned-independent while serving as mayor is viewed favorably by 38% of Democratic voters, but just 23% of Republicans and 19% of unaffiliated voters agree. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Democrats share an unfavorable opinion of Bloomberg, but that compares to 50% of Republicans and 58% of unaffiliateds. Roughly one-quarter of the voters in all three groups have no opinion of the New Yorker.

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The survey of 952 Likely Voters was conducted on June 4 and 7, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is an even bigger unknown to members of his own party than Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, but both men have a steep hill to climb if they’re going to take next year’s Democratic presidential nomination away from Clinton.

Bloomberg is viewed favorably by 27% of all voters and unfavorably by 49%. This includes seven percent (7%) with a Very Favorable opinion and 25% with a Very Unfavorable one. Twenty-four percent (24%) are not sure.

Women and those under 40 give Clinton a clear advantage in a matchup with Bloomberg. Among men and older voters, it’s a much closer race.

Clinton earns 60% support from blacks and 59% of the vote from other minority voters. Among whites, she and Bloomberg run even, but 22% like another candidate given that matchup and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Among liberal voters, the chief constituency for both candidates, Clinton leads the former mayor by a whopping 71% to 12% margin.

As recently as mid-April, an overwhelming 91% of Democratic voters said Clinton is likely to be their party’s presidential nominee in 2016, with 66% who said it is Very Likely. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of all voters think she is likely to be the next president.

However, just over half of all voters do not trust Clinton, and even more think she used her position as secretary of State to benefit some of those who gave money to her Clinton Foundation.

A growing number of voters also thinks Clinton deliberately used a private e-mail account while serving as secretary of State to hide things from government oversight.

In his last year in office, most New York City voters still approved of the job Bloomberg was doing as mayor.

But Americans nationwide disagreed with his efforts to ban the sale of large sugary drinks and to stop private food donations to homeless shelters. 

Bloomberg, a multimillionaire, has been financing aggressive gun control campaigns throughout the country. Over half of voters nationwide oppose stricter gun control laws, while 61% think the country needs stricter enforcement of gun laws already on the books.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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