Bloomberg qualifies for Democratic debate
The 19% mark was his highest level of support in any debate-qualifying poll
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York has qualified for today’s debate in Las Vegas, the first time the billionaire will appear onstage alongside his Democratic presidential rivals.
A national poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist released yesterday showed Bloomberg with 19 per cent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, putting him in second place behind Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had 31 per cent. That was a substantial surge since the group’s poll in December, when Bloomberg received only 4 per cent support.
Sanders tops 31%
The survey was the fourth national qualifying poll since mid-January that showed Bloomberg with at least 10 per cent support, enough to earn him an invitation to the debate stage before the deadline of 11.59pm Eastern time yesterday.
Bloomberg will face off against Sanders; Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former VicePresident Joe Biden; and Pete
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. The debate, which will air today at 9pm Eastern time, will be hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and The Nevada Independent.
Bloomberg’s 19 per cent mark was his highest level of support in any debatequalifying national poll to date. The latest national polling average calculated by The New York Times, which was released late last week, put him at 10 per cent nationally, behind Sanders, Biden and Warren.
Sanders’ support has also increased since the NPR/PBS
NewsHour/Marist poll in December, when he had 22 per cent. The new poll is the first debate-qualifying national poll released this year showing Sanders with more than 30 per cent support.
In the new poll, Biden had 15 per cent, Warren 12 per cent, Klobuchar 9 per cent and Buttigieg 8 per cent. The poll surveyed 527 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents by phone February 13-16 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.