http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5096.htmlolls in major battleground states within the past few weeks give us better information about what might actually happen if Bloomberg decides to seek the presidency as an independent. His chances of winning the White House are very small. At this point, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, his third-party candidacy would help the Democrats more than the Republicans.
Quinnipiac University polls in Ohio, Florida and New Jersey in the past month found that he is not close to being competitive in a three-way race, and in all three states his candidacy would be a boost for the Democrats. Of course we are 16 months from the November 2008 election, and Bloomberg and his views are unfamiliar to many outside the metropolitan New York region, so these tests of how Bloomberg would fare are based on initial impressions that could change. Nevertheless, the surveys show that Bloomberg is neither well-known nor especially well-regarded once one gets out of the Northeast. In Ohio and Florida, two of the most important Electoral College battlegrounds, roughly 60 percent of voters don't know enough about him to have an opinion. Among those who do, about as many view him unfavorably as favorably.
In Florida, Quinnipiac began running 2008 presidential trial heats in February 2006, and no Democrat has been able to beat former New York mayor and GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani since then. But the inclusion of Bloomberg in the race allows Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to win. In the most recent Quinnipiac poll, released Monday, she loses to Giuliani 46 percent to 44 percent in a heads-up race but defeats him 41 percent to 39 percent, with 9 percent for Bloomberg, in a three-way contest. In Ohio, her narrow 44 percent to 42 percent lead over Giuliani in Quinnipiac's most recent poll, released July 12, widens to 40 percent to 35 percent, with 10 percent for Bloomberg, in a three-way race. And in New Jersey, where Giuliani has been consistently defeating Clinton in two-way faceoffs, Bloomberg's presence in the race turns his 47 percent to 44 percent lead in Quinnipiac's poll released July 5 into a 36 percent to 36 percent tie, with 18 percent for Bloomberg.
Bloomberg's ability to help Democrats is not confined to contests including Giuliani and Clinton. In Ohio and Florida, Quinnipiac also ran a mythical three-way including Bloomberg, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and actor/former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.). Obama and Thompson currently run second in their respective primary races both nationally and in most states. In Ohio, Obama's 44 percent to 34 percent lead over Thompson stretches to 38 percent to 27 percent, with 15 percent for Bloomberg. In Florida, Obama's 42 percent to 39 percent lead in a heads-up match doubles to 38 percent to 32 percent, with 14 percent for Bloomberg, in a three-way race.