- Michael Bloomberg points to 15% of the voting intentions in the Democratic primary, behind Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.
- If he is late, the former mayor of New York said he was ready to spend a billion dollars on the campaign.
- During the next televised debate on Wednesday, he should for the first time have to respond directly to the attacks of his opponents.
In three months, Michael Bloomberg spent $ 400 million to saturate the airwaves and the web with campaign ads. At the same time, it jumped to 15% in the polls and now points in third position of the voting intentions of the Democratic primary, behind Joe Biden (18%) and Bernie Sanders (25%). At 78, can the billionaire win the nomination and challenge Donald Trump? While his opponents redoubled their attacks, especially on his record at the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg will for the first time cross swords with them during the televised debate on Wednesday.
Unlimited means with a fortune of 64 billion dollars
Michael Bloomberg is the 12th richest person in the world, according to the Forbes real-time ranking. With a fortune estimated at 64 billion dollars, he can spend without counting and said he was ready to invest a billion. With his late candidacy - he launched in November - Bloomberg was forced to skip the first four primary polls, leaving Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg to lead the race for delegates. Suddenly, he bet everything on the dozen states that will vote on Tuesday, March 3 during Super Tuesday.
According to Kantar Media, it has just passed the milestone of 400 million dollars invested in more than 150 commercial spots broadcast daily and in prime time during the Super Bowl and the Oscars. This is more than all the other candidates put together, ten times more than Bernie Sanders and thirty times more than Joe Biden, who is struggling to raise funds after two bitter failures. Bloomberg also bought the support of influencers on social networks to boost its candidacy with 18-24 year olds.
The polemics of the past come back to the fore
For three months, Bloomberg was able to campaign without being attacked or almost, particularly courting the African-American vote. But with his breakthrough in the polls, he logically became a target. Bernie Sanders accused him of trying to “buy the presidency” and Joe Biden was engulfed in the “stop and frisk” controversy: in 2015, Bloomberg boasted of having reduced violence in New York by encouraging checks and facies searches in underprivileged areas. He was forced to apologize last week, admitting that the decried practice had led to the arrest of "too many innocent people", including "an overwhelming majority" of African Americans or Latinos.
Likewise, Bloomberg was accused of harassment and sexism in the 1990s by women working for his company, and he settled several complaints out of court with his checkbook, according to a Washington Post investigation. The candidate will have to explain himself for the first time and respond to attacks during the debate.
The divided Democratic Party
If Bernie Sanders is now a favorite, he is far from having gathered the party behind him. In New Hampshire, its cumulative score to that of Elizabeth Warren (the left wing of the Democratic Party) reached 35%, against 52% for the moderate wing (Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Biden). Professor of political science at the University of Washington, Chris Edelson believes that "many democratic voters want above all to beat Trump and are worried about a candidacy of Bernie Sanders", which they consider "too extreme" with his label of " democratic socialist ”.
According to projections from the Five Thirty Eight site, there is now a one in three chance that we will attend a contested convention in Milwaukee in mid-July, with no candidate having reached the absolute majority of the delegates. Bloomberg could then pose as a unifier and try to rally the moderates behind him.
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