Michael Bloomberg. (Photo by Rubenstein, via Flickr.)
Michael Bloomberg. (Photo by Rubenstein, via Flickr.)

Frank Sinatra famously sang that if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

But maybe not. A poll by his own news service indicates that Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and former New York mayor who reportedly is considering a run for the White House, isn’t very well known by Iowans and isn’t well liked by those who have heard of him.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Bloomberg, a popular politician with many in tech, had begun to study whether he stood a chance to become president of the United States.  It appears that Bloomberg’s accomplishments guiding the nation’s largest city for three terms and building an information-and-technology empire may not resonate in the heartland.

According to Politico, a poll of Iowa voters taken by the news service Bloomberg owns, in partnership with the Des Moines Register, found 41 percent of likely Republican voters and 57 percent of likely Democratic voters did not know Bloomberg well enough to offer an opinion of him.

Of the Republican voters polled who said that they were aware of Bloomberg, 50 percent held an unfavorable view compared to 9 percent who had a favorable opinion, Politico reported.

Among the Democrats, 26 percent held an unfavorable view compared with 17 percent with a favorable view. Bloomberg was the least popular person pollsters asked about with the exception of two others: Republican candidate Jeb Bush and Sarah Palin, the commentator and 2008 Republican candidate for vice president.

The Iowa caucuses are significant because for nearly 45 years, they’ve been the first major electoral event of the nominating process for US President.

Bloomberg did receive some good news last week. Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska and former US Secretary of Defense, said he would back the former mayor if he ran. According to the Times, Bloomberg will make a decision on whether to launch a campaign sometime before the end of March.

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