Michael Bloomberg’s Net Favorability Plunged 20 Points After Nevada Debate, Says Poll

Former Mayor of New York City, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, took a number of devastating blows during Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Nevada. Notably, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ripped into Bloomberg over his reported remarks about women.

According to a post-debate poll from Morning Consult released on Friday, although Warren’s strong performance appears to have not helped her very much, her and other candidates’ attacks on Bloomberg have affected the billionaire’s popularity among all Democratic primary voters.

Bloomberg — who entered the race late, in November — is running an unconventional campaign, using some of his vast fortune to blanket the airwaves with ads. This has helped the billionaire surge in both nationwide and state polls in a matter of weeks, with his favorability ratings staying relatively high. That appears to be changing.

According to Morning Consult, Bloomberg’s net favorability fell 20 points since the pre-debate poll. Men, women, black voters, and white voters drew the billionaire’s numbers down equally, according to the survey. Interestingly, Bloomberg’s net favorability plunged the most among self-described moderates, going down 30 points.

“His popularity with the Democratic electorate had been on the rise as he poured hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising across the country ahead of his first showing on a ballot on Super Tuesday, March 3. But all of the gains he’d made since the beginning of the year have been erased.”

In terms of support, however, Bloomberg appears to have not suffered too much damage. The billionaire dropped only three points since the pre-debate poll and is now polling at 17 percent nationwide. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ standing in the poll increased by two points — he is the national frontrunner, now polling at 30 percent. Trailing Sanders is former Vice President Joe Biden at 19 percent.

Warren went up two points in the poll and she is now at 12 percent, polling fourth place nationally. Trailing Warren are former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 11 percent and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar at five percent. Both Buttigieg and Klobuchar saw a one-point decrease in support after the debate.

Bloomberg has decided to dedicate the bulk of his resources to Super Tuesday primary races, so he is not even on the ballot in Nevada, where the next Democratic contest is taking place. According to the latest polling, Sanders is favored to win the Nevada caucuses by a comfortable margin of 13 points.

Buttigieg and Biden appear to be competing for second place in Nevada, polling at 17 and 16 percent respectively. Warren is trailing both with 12 percentage points. Klobuchar is polling at 11 and billionaire Tom Steyer at 10 percentage points.