Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has jumped into fourth place in the Democratic primary contest with 9 percent support among Democrats nationwide, a poll published Wednesday shows.
The top contenders remain unchanged, according to the Monmouth University survey: Former Vice President Joe Biden was the choice of 30 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had 23 percent and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in with 14 percent.
Bloomberg is trailed by former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 6 percent and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 5 percent.
While the rest of the Democratic primary field jockeys for votes in Iowa and New Hampshire and is busy raising money to make the debate stage, Bloomberg is forgoing the usual path to the nomination. He's skipping the early-voting states, turning his attention and money to campaigning in Super Tuesday states on March 3, staffing up and advertising aggressively.
Bloomberg, a businessman with an estimated net worth of more than $50 billion, has more than 800 staffers on his payroll and has spent more than $100 million on advertising.
The Monmouth survey suggests voters may be OK with Bloomberg's nontraditional ploy: A majority of Democrats, 56 percent, said voters in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire have too much influence on who wins the party's nomination for president.
The poll also showed growing support for an alternative to President Donald Trump in 2020: Fifty-seven percent of all registered voters in the survey said that someone new should be elected in 2020.
