Poll: A Bloomberg run would hit Sanders harder than any Republican

HAMDEN, Conn., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- New polling shows that if former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ran for president as a third party candidate, he would bleed away votes from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

The poll, released Friday by Quinnippiac University showed if Bloomberg was a third party candidate in a race between Sanders and Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Bloomberg would garner 15 percent of the vote. Sanders would grab 35 percent of the vote, giving Trump a narrow edge over Sanders with 36 percent.

Between Sanders and Cruz, Bloomberg would garner the same amount of support, leaving Sanders with 37 percent and Cruz with 36 percent.

Without Bloomberg as a factor, Sanders shapes up well against Republican front-runners. He beats out Trump 49 to 39, and narrowly beats Cruz 46 to 42.

Clinton comes closer in the same match-ups, beating out Trump 46 to 41, and tying with Cruz at 45 percent each.

The poll was conducted from Tuesday through Thursday and surveyed 1,125 registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

Bloomberg recently has been considering a possible third-party run for the White House, an idea he's toyed with before. Bloomberg has, in the past, been a Democrat, then a Republican and now considers himself an Independent.