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Poll: Third-party bids by Ron Paul, Bloomberg could garner sizable support
A third-party bid by Ron Paul or New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg could seriously disrupt the 2012 presidential election, a new poll from NBC and The Wall Street Journal says.
Paul would earn the support of 18 percent of voters in a three-way race with President Obama and Mitt Romney, according to the poll, with Romney earning 32 percent and Obama receiving 44.
That 18 percent exceeds the 8 percent that Paul earned in the last poll of Republicans by USA Today/Gallup, showing some of the crossover appeal to independents and Democrats of the libertarian Texas congressman. Paul mounted a third-party bid in 1988, but has said so far that he didn't anticipate running if he does not win the Republican nomination.
Bloomberg, who has not signaled any desire to run, also polls in the double digits against Romney and Obama, earning 13 percent of support. Obama again would receive 44 percent of the vote, while Romney would earn 35.
While the poll offered an intriguing picture into how a third-party bid could affect the presidential race, it also offered a few hopeful signs for Obama.
Fewer respondents thought the country was headed down the wrong track than in October, the low point for his presidency. More respondents approve of how the president is handling the economy, more have a positive view of the Democratic Party and more say they would probably vote for Obama over a generic Republican candidate.
Obama also leads Romney in a head-to-head match-up by a 49-43 percent margin, up from only a two-point difference in October. Obama led Herman Cain by a 53-38 percent margin.
Respondents were also most likely to blame Republicans in Congress for the problems facing America.
But the president will still face a difficult road to reelection. Seventy-three percent of Americans still believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and just more than half disapprove of the job the president is doing.
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