Mavs' Mark Cuban Hired Pollster to Gauge Independent Presidential Run in 2020

Mark Cuban revealed during an appearance on CNN commentator David Axelrod's podcast, The Axe Files, that he commissioned a pollster to investigate his chances for success as a 2020 presidential candidate running as an independent.

He said the highest projection he received was getting 25 percent of the vote, via Dan Wolken of USA Today:

"What they found out is I'd take some votes away from Donald Trump, particularly with independents. In a three-way between me, [Joe] Biden and Trump, I dominated the independent vote—I got like 77 percent percent of it and was able to take some votes away from Donald and some votes away from Biden. But in aggregate, I was only able to get up to 25 percent. From every which way, crosstab, you name it, I had it analyzed and scrutinized every which way, projected, and they could only see me getting up to 25 percent. That's why I didn't pursue it further."

Cuban was also critical of President Trump in his remarks:

"I think he got off to an OK start. I didn't like the specifics of the tax plan but thought corporate taxes needed to be lowered some. I wouldn't have lowered them that much. I did not think personal taxes need to be lowered as much as they were. They should have gone up for folks like me. I understand how Republicans and conservatives like the fact that he's trying to tilt the judiciary but after that, I mean, he's a victim. He's not a leader at all. He has no communication skills. To this day, nothing is his fault. He's never admitted anything and you can't be the leader of the free world and play the victim card all the time. It doesn't work, it's counterproductive and it has led to us being diminished globally."

In some ways, a Cuban run for presidency would mirror certain aspects of Trump's presidency. Like Trump, Cuban is famous for being a businessman and a part of a successful reality show (among his other ventures, Cuban is the governor of the Dallas Mavericks and one of the "shark" investors in ABC's reality show Shark Tank). 

Like Trump before his presidential run, Cuban has also never held public office. 

Cuban has discussed running for president before. In May 2019 he told CNBC's Scott Wapner: "It would take the perfect storm for me to [run]. There's some things that could open the door, but I'm not projecting or predicting it right now."

And in Oct. 2017 he said a presidential run in 2020 was something he was "seriously considering" and added, "Maybe I run as an independent. I don't know."

It appears a 2020 run isn't in the cards. But given his flirtations with a presidential run over the past several years, it wouldn't be surprising at all if Cuban was gearing up for a run in 2024.