Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that he could possibly be running for president as a Democrat. This news comes after he announced that he would not be running last March. Bloomberg said that he joined the race because he feared there was not a Democratic candidate able to beat Donald Trump running yet. His main concern seems to be with Populist candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. As for Biden, he notes a lack of success in fundraising as his main worry for the front-running Democratic candidate. 

Bloomberg is the second billionaire to enter the race, following philanthropist Tom Steyer. And, while they have similar financial situations which they donate to charity and climate change organizations, their policies couldn’t be further from each other. 

With populist candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren gaining a popular voting on the polls, the idea of placing an immense tax on billionaires has become widely supported on the debate stage. It is speculated that Bloomberg is considering running for president as an act of self-defense against these policies.  

Bloomberg is certainly against raising taxes on the wealthy. In May 2018, he stated that higher taxation on poor people would “have a bigger impact on their behavior and how they deal with themselves.” He seems to believe that higher taxes will serve as a punishment to the poor, as if their financial situation is simply a product of their own lack of initiative.

But while Bloomberg resistants raising taxes on the wealthy, Steyer does not. Steyer’s campaign website claims that he supports a “tax system that is fair and promotes people over profits.” The philanthropist supports spreading wealth from the very wealthy down to the people who need it the most. 

The idea of a billionaire running for president as a Democrat is already pretty radical. This year’s Democratic candidates are very diverse, with a record number of women and people of color who all come from very different backgrounds. As a rich, white male, Steyer will have to work hard to attract voters. However, based off the financially-conscious campaign that he is running, he may have a small chance at gaining traction in the polls eventually. Bloomberg’s chances, on the other hand, are practically nonexistent. 

Bloomberg’s anti-tax on the rich and pro-tax on the poor are way out of line with the current Democratic Party ideals. If he plans to run for president, he will have to make major changes to his political plans to gain support in the polls. 

Here are the results from the most recent Republican and Democratic primaries, a two week National Average from Oct. 27–Nov. 10. 

Republican Primary

Donald Trump — 87.0%

Bill Weld — 3.0%

Joe Walsh — 1.0%

Mike Sanford — 1.0%

Democratic Primary

Joe Biden — 24.7%

Elizabeth Warren — 17.8%

Bernie Sanders — 15.8%

Pete Buttigieg — 6.3%

Kamala Harris — 4.8%

Cory Booker — 2.2%

Andrew Yang — 2.0%

Amy Klobuchar — 1.7%

Beto O’Rourke — 1.5%*

Julian Castro — 1.2%

Tulsi Gabbard — 1.0%

Tom Steyer — 1.0%

Michael Bennet, Steve Bullock, John Delaney, Marianne Williamson and Wayne Messam are all polling lower than 1%. 

Thanks for reading and make sure to check back next week for a new political column. As always, feel free to leave your comments, questions and opinions down below. 

*It should be noted that O’Rourke dropped out of the race Nov. 1, while this poll was being conducted.