Poll: Michael Bloomberg Surpasses Elizabeth Warren, Rises to Third Place Nationally

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D) has surpassed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and sits in third place nationally, a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed.

Quinnipiac’s results, taken February 5-9, 2020, among 665 Democrat and Democrat-leaning independent voters, show a “dramatic shift” in the Democrat primary race, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leading Joe Biden (D) by eight percentage points — 25 percent to 17 percent.

Most notably, Bloomberg, who made a late entry into the race and has yet to participate in a single Democrat debate, has risen to third place nationally with 15 percent support. The billionaire edged out Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who dropped to fourth place nationally with 14 percent support.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) placed fifth with ten percent support, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who garnered four percent support. The remaining candidates saw two percent support or less. The margin of error is +/- 3.8 percent:

#NEW National Quinnipiac Poll:

Sanders 25%
Biden 17%
Bloomberg 15%
Warren 14%
Buttigieg 10%
Klobuchar 4%
Everyone else 2% or less

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) February 10, 2020

February’s poll illustrates a significant shift from Quinnipiac’s January polling results, which showed Biden holding the lead with 26 percent, followed by Sanders, Warren, and Bloomberg with 21 percent, 15 percent, and eight percent, respectively.

“Biden scrambles to bounce back in frigid New Hampshire after an icy slide to 17 percent, his lowest national number,” Quinnipiac University Poll Analyst Tim Malloy said, according to Quinnipiac.

“Is the Bloomberg camp prepping the white horse for him to ride to the rescue? Maybe not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire, he is suddenly a looming shadow over the primary field,” he added.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd noted the chatter over Bloomberg’s surge in an op-ed posted over the weekend:

Democrats from Congress to Los Angeles began whispering hopefully about Michael Bloomberg.

“There seems to be a groundswell of support, mostly based on the fact that he’ll spend whatever it takes and fight just as dirty as Trump — with more resources,” said David Israel, a writer in Hollywood.

The poll also shows Biden’s electability taking a massive hit, with 27 percent of voters indicating their belief that he stands the best chance of defeating President Trump in the general election — a 17 percent drop. Twenty-four percent now say Sanders has the best chance of beating Trump.

Malloy said Biden’s lackluster performance in Iowa has “hurt the perception of what was his biggest strength – electability”:

New Quinnipiac University poll shows Biden taking a massive hit on electability.

Before Iowa: 44% of Democrats said Biden was the most likely to beat Trump.

Now: Just 27% of Democrats say so.

Sanders, Bloomberg, Buttigieg saw gains.https://t.co/yUO4DDxopf pic.twitter.com/S8b7bWRjjk

— Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) February 10, 2020

Monday’s RealClearPolitics average reflects the ever-changing landscape of the field, with Sanders less than half a percentage point away from matching Biden’s long-held national lead. It also shows Bloomberg overtaking Buttigieg and gaining on Warren, with 12.7 percent to the Massachusetts senator’s 15.3 percent.

Bloomberg has already dropped over $300 million on political advertising across a variety of platforms and plans to continue to dump millions into his efforts to oust the president.