ATLANTA — Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for president.
Ending weeks of speculation, the 77-year-old former Republican announced his candidacy Sunday in a written statement posted on a campaign website describing himself as uniquely positioned to defeat President Donald Trump. He says he will quickly follow with a massive advertising campaign blanketing airways in key primary states across the U.S.
“I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Bloomberg wrote.
“We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” he continued. “He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.”
Bloomberg’s entrance comes just 10 weeks before primary voting begins, an unorthodox move that reflects anxiety within the Democratic Party about the strength of its current candidates.
In an exclusive 11Alive poll administered by SurveyUSA, Georgia voters are not overly enthused.
SurveyUSA interviewed 1,900 Georgia adults between Nov. 15 and Nov. 28. Of the adults, 1,538 are registered to vote. Of the registered voters, SurveyUSA identified 1,303 who are likely to vote in a general election for President.
Much as survey numbers show in other states, former Vice President Joe Biden is the Democratic front runner in Georgia.
We asked the question: If there were a general election for President today, and there were only two names on the ballot, one being Donald Trump, who would you vote for.
Georgia voters were neck-to-neck with Joe Biden edging Trump 47 percent to 43 percent.
Meanwhile, going head-to-head, Trump edges Michael Bloomberg by a statistically insignificant 2 percentage points, 44 percent to 42 percent. Fourteen percent are undecided.
Of the Democrats surveyed, Georgians polled have Biden at 39 percent, however, with Bloomberg on the primary ballot, those numbers change ever-so-slightly. He takes 6 percent of the vote, with Biden dropping to 33 percent.
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