Michael Bloomberg has a major female voter problem, according to a new poll of Democrats.
Nearly a third of his party’s primary voters, 32%, told Morning Consult that Bloomberg’s the most “sexist” candidate on the Democratic side. Almost all the individuals who bestowed him that dishonor were women, at 31%.
About half of Democrats said the same about former Vice President Joe Biden, 16%. Just 7% said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was sexist.
The numbers indicate that the attacks the former New York City mayor sustained during last week’s debate in Nevada have left a real impact on his standing in the Democratic race. During last Wednesday’s event, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren hammered Bloomberg over his past remarks about women and the existence of several nondisclosure agreements from former female employees at his financial information and news company, Bloomberg, LP.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Warren said. “Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk. Look, I’ll support whoever the Democratic nominee is, but understand this: Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”
Days later, Warren continued her attacks on Bloomberg during a speech in Nevada, saying he has “a history now of harassing women and of gender discrimination.”
“So let’s think about that, billionaire who hides his taxes, has a bad history with women, and defends racist policies,” she said. “Let me just put it this way: we’re not substituting one arrogant billionaire for another in 2020.”
A RealClearPolitics average of recent national polls has Bloomberg in third place with 15.3% support, behind Biden at 17.2%, and Sanders at 29.3%.
[Read more: ‘Get over it’: Michael Bloomberg girlfriend dismisses NDA controversy]
