Poll: A Three-Way 2016 Race With Bloomberg Hurts Clinton, Helps Trump

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A new poll from media and polling firm Morning Consult shows Hillary Clinton would lose more votes — and likely the race —- if former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumped in to sabotage a Trump run for the White House.

In the hypothetical match-up, Trump earns 37 percent, just ahead of Clinton’s 36 percent. Bloomberg draws 13 percent as an Independent. But 14 percent of voters are still undecided or have no opinion.

Bloomberg hurts Hillary Clinton more than he hurts Donald Trump because he draws Democratic-leaning Independent and younger voters away from Clinton. He’s socially liberal and also a pro-globalist who favors free-trade and large-scale immigration.

In a two-way race, Clinton beats Trump 44-42. With Bloomberg in the race, however, Clinton’s support drops 8 points, while Trump’s support drops just 5 points.

Surprisingly, Bloomberg has the more favorable ratings of the three candidates.  He is more popular with Democrats than he is with Republicans. His net favorable ratings, or the difference between positive and negative views, is +4, although 43 percent of voters don’t know enough about him to have an opinion.

Favorables for Clinton and Trump are must worse. Clinton’s net favorable rating is -12, while Trump’s is -10.

In a three-way race, Clinton gets 72 percent of Democrats’ support and Trump captures 11 percent of Democrats.

Among Republicans, Trump wins 67 percent of their support and Clinton draws 9 percent. Twelve percent of Republicans are uncertain between the three candidates.

Morning Consult also tested hypothetical match-up between Clinton, Bloomberg and both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. In those contests, Clinton bests both Republicans. She beats Rubio by 5 points and Cruz by 14 points. In both cases, Bloomberg’s support dips a bit.

The poll was conducted January 17-20 and based on interviews with 4,060 registered voters. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percent.

 

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