Ryan Sager runs the numbers and finds current presidential support for New York's answer to Lex Luthor , Michael Bloomberg, to be unimpressive so far--and this despite Bloomberg having, believe it or not, slightly higher name recognition than Mitt Romney. (It warms my heart that after months of active "all presidential campaign all the time" news coverage, only 62 percent of polled Americans even know who Romney is):
Only 9% of poll respondents say there would be a "good chance" they'd vote for [Bloomberg]. Some 23% say there's "some chance." Now, that's not to say $150 million could change things, but...
Combining Mr. Bloomberg's "some" and "good" chance numbers, he's got 32%. It's not fair to compare him to the frontrunners, but how does this compare with some of the non-candidates and the back-of-the-pack real candidates?
Fred Thompson is at 47%. Newt Gingrich is at 30%. Al Gore is at 46%. Joe Biden is at 30%. Tommy Thompson's at 28%.