Mike Bloomberg takes on the tough issues
Despite entering the race just a few months ago, Mike Bloomberg’s poll numbers are on the rise in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination — including a huge boost among Black voters.
In a recent Quinnipiac survey, the former Mayor of New York’s support with Black voters rose to 22%, an increase of 15 percentage points since Quinnipiac’s last poll conducted in January. This surge has vaulted him into second place amongst a crucial segment of Democratic primary voters – trailing only former Vice President Joe Biden who saw his support fall from 49% to 27%. The same Quinnipiac survey also indicated that both Democrats and Independents think Bloomberg matches up best against Donald Trump in a head-to-head general election match-up.
The Bloomberg campaign’s surge comes as multiple national polls show the mayor’s numbers steadily increase well into the double digits. The latest Morning Consult national poll also showed Bloomberg rising to 17% this week, moving up to third place amongst all Democratic voters.
The campaign is taking an unconventional path to the nomination, skipping the first four early primary states and focusing on investing heavily in communicating with voters in later primary states, like Wisconsin, that will be crucial to victory in the general election this fall.
Bloomberg’s rise in popularity among Black voters is a result of his track record of success as mayor and the outreach made to Black community leaders all across the nation. The mayor apologized for controversial “stop & frisk” policies enacted when he ran New York City in a January speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the site of the infamous Black Wall Street Massacre. Bloomberg acknowledged the systemic bias and discrimination in our housing, financial, justice, and education systems that have prevented generations of Black Americans from generating wealth and achieving the American Dream.
During the speech in Tulsa, Bloomberg introduced the Greenwood Initiative, a comprehensive plan to bring economic justice to Black Americans by investing $70 billion in low-income neighborhoods throughout the country, increase the number of black homeowners, and double the number of African-American owned businesses if he’s elected president.
“As someone who has been very lucky in life, I often say my story would only have been possible in America – and that’s true. But I also know that my story might have turned out very differently if I had been Black, and that more Black Americans of my generation would have ended up with far more wealth, had they been white,” Mike Bloomberg said in his January speech. “Instead, they have had to struggle to overcome great odds, because their families started out further behind, and excluded from opportunities – in housing, employment, education, and other areas.”