Report: Bloomberg Says He Is 'Looking At All The Options' For Presidential Run

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a published report Monday that he is indeed considering a run for president.

Bloomberg told the Financial Times that he was "looking at all the options" when he was asked whether he might run, the newspaper reported. The paper said Bloomberg also "criticized the quality of the debate" in the presidential contest.

Bloomberg's name popped up on the 2016 radar following last month's reports that the 73-year-old would consider running if Donald Trump or U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took the Republican nomination and if Sen. Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.

"There is a large swath of the American public that are disaffected," Christopher Malone, political scientist at Lehman College, told CBS2's Tony Aiello last week.

A recent Gallup Poll revealed that 60 percent of voters support the creation of a third major political party and that 44 percent now consider themselves independent.

"Yes, the disaffection is high, but at the same time these are voters that don't tend to vote unless they really have an impetus to do so," Malone explained to CBS2 last week. "So he would have to do a lot to bring them out to the polls."

People close to the 73-year-old have indicated that he will spend $1 billion on an independent bid to try to convince Americans that a fiscally conservative and socially liberal billionaire can bridge division and dysfunction within the political spectrum.

Fellow billionaire Trump said he would welcome Bloomberg into the presidential race.

"I'd love to compete against Michael. And I know him very well. And I think he might very well get in the race and I would love to have him get in the race," the Republican presidential hopeful told CBS' "Face the Nation" last month.

Pollster Frank Luntz recently said that Bloomberg is already polling at nearly 30 percent without campaigning.