Michael Bloomberg 2020
Christophe Ena/AP Washington Examiner
We ran the numbers: There are 67 news articles covering this topic. 24% (16) are left leaning, 46% (31) center, 15% (10) right leaning, and 15% (10) articles were from sources not analyzed by Nobias.
Over the past decade, former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg has considered running for president many times. This past Tuesday, he announced his decision not to run in 2020. “I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election,” he wrote, “but I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.”
The articles covering this story shared very similar headlines—almost all led with a variation of the news peg: Michael Bloomberg announces he will not run for president. Most articles featured excerpts from Bloomberg’s statement, including his view that the proposed Green New Deal “stands no chance of passage in the Senate over the next two years.”
The main differences in political coverage lay in the analysis of the broader 2020 political field. Articles identified by us as left-leaning were more likely to discuss the merits of Bloomberg’s other political projects—including efforts to combat climate change and enact gun control legislation. These articles were also more likely to discuss the steps Bloomberg took to decide whether to run, such as touring the country. A few of the articles we found to be more right-leaning delved deeper into his critique of the Green New Deal, discussing other skeptics’ views on the proposed legislation.
Bloomberg’s announcement has spurred discussion of the upcoming Democratic primary and the 2020 general election.