Political World Watching Bloomberg's Every Step For Potential Presidential Bid
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The political world is watching and waiting on a potential presidential run from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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 Sen. Ted Cruz 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.
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. "So he would have to do a lot to bring them out to the polls."
Bloomberg pollster Douglas Schoen has penned op-eds for The Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News, touting the former New York mayor.
"Bloomberg would be the candidate for Americans who are tired of Democrats and Republicans promising the impossible while delivering the inadequate, and who understand that the two major parties and the Washington political class have failed our country so miserably that our economy and national security are now deeply threatened," Schoen wrote in the Daily News.
People close to the 73-year-old indicate 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 Donald 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.
If he does decide to run, though, Bloomberg will be trying to play catchup against the Democratic and Republican machines.
