Moment of truth for Bloomberg

They’ve seen all the uplifting television ads that $600 million can buy.

They’ve watched the billionaire ex-mayor’s cringeworthy debate performances.

Now American voters will finally get to weigh in on Mike Bloomberg’s most unorthodox Democratic presidential candidacy.

“It’s going to be a make-or-break day for him,” said Doug Muzzio, a Baruch College political scientist. “We’ll see if this experiment in buying an election really works.”

Bloomberg (inset) is on the ballot for the first time on Super Tuesday as Democrats vote in the primary-palooza that will pick about a third of the delegates at stake.

After joining the race late, Bloomberg skipped the four traditional early-state contests that ended with the South Carolina primary Saturday. Now he has to prove that he belongs in a fastshrinking field that some say will boil down to Joe Biden vs. Bernie Sanders.

Bloomberg, 78, has been flooding the airwaves and pouring money into organizing on the ground in vote-rich Super Tuesday states like North Carolina, Texas and the biggest prize of all, California.

The former Republican mayor rose rapidly in polls as the oversize field of Democratic White House wannabes squabbled. But he recently flatlined after being eviscerated in his first Democratic debate amid questions about stop-andfrisk, his alleged insensitive remarks about women and his history of supporting GOP candidates. Nearly seven of 10 South Carolina Democratic voters told Edison Research they held an unfavorable option of Bloomberg.

His first test at the ballot box comes at a pivotal moment in the roller-coaster Democratic race.

Bloomberg said he was running because he was worried about the ability of other Democratic hopefuls to beat President Trump in November.

He needs to show that he can be a major player in the race, or he may be perceived as a spoiler who is just nipping at Biden’s heels.