Michael Bloomberg has qualified to join the top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates on stage at Wednesday night’s debate in Las Vegas, according to a new national poll.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, racked up 31% support in the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released early Tuesday, a 9 percentage point spike since the survey was last conducted in December. But it’s the former New York City mayor’s second-place finish at 19% that’s the top-line result, up from 4% in 2019.
Despite not contesting this Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, that performance means Bloomberg, 78, qualifies for the debate after the Democratic National Committee in January dropped the grassroots fundraising criteria it set for White House hopefuls seeking to make the nationally televised events. Under the modification, the billionaire media mogul and philanthropist had to receive 10% support in at least four DNC-approved state or national polls, or 12% support in two early state polls in South Carolina and Nevada, between Jan. 15 and midnight on Feb. 18.
Bloomberg’s qualification now sets up a battle royal of sorts. So far this cycle, he’s largely avoided the press while taking shots at President Trump and the rest of the field on the campaign trail or via some of the $400 million-plus he’s spent on advertising since announcing his candidacy in November, much to the chagrin of his rivals.
The billionaire’s rise, based on a Super Tuesday strategy, threatens center-left former Vice President Joe Biden more than ascendant socialist Sanders. Biden, 77, ranked third in Tuesday’s poll at15%, down 9 percentage points since last year. The White House ambitions of Delaware’s senator for 36 years now rest on Nevada on Feb. 22, South Carolina on Feb. 29, and Super Tuesday on March 3 after disappointing showings in the first two contests of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38, also shed support in the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey. Warren registered 15% of the vote, down 5 percentage points, compared to Buttigieg’s 8%, another decrease of 5 percentage points.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 59, rose, finishing slightly behind Warren but ahead of Buttigieg, with 9%, a bump of 5 percentage points. She previously came a close fifth behind Biden in Iowa and third in New Hampshire. Sanders and Buttigieg ranked in the top two in both rounds of voting, but the former mayor’s numbers in Tuesday’s poll bode poorly for his chances to continue his winning streak into Super Tuesday.
Researchers for the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll interviewed 527 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents between Feb. 13 and Feb. 16 over the telephone. Their findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.
