More than half of Democrat voters incorrectly believe that Barack Obama endorsed either Bloomberg or Biden

Former Barack Obama has not officially endorsed any Democrat candidate for the presidency. However, a recent survey seems to suggest that most Democrats believe that Obama is endorsing either Mike Bloomberg or Joe Biden.

According to Newsweek, some political ads try to associate their campaigns with Barack Obama “to capitalize on his popularity.” Misleading advertising might be the reason why Democratic voters incorrectly assume that Obama is endorsing a particular candidate based data from a new survey from Morning Consult.

The result of the survey reveals that the majority of Democratic voters believe that Barack Obama is endorsing a candidate for the 2020 presidential election. It must be noted that neither the former POTUS nor his wife, Michelle Obama, made any endorsement.

The Morning Consult survey shows that 26 percent of the respondents believe that Obama endorsed former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Meanwhile, 25 percent of those surveyed believe that he endorsed his former vice president Joe Biden. This means that more than half (51 percent) believe that Obama endorsed a candidate.

The reason for these incorrect assumptions might be those cleverly crafted political ads. For example, an ad from the Bloomberg campaign shows footage of Obama praising the mayor. “He's been a leader throughout the country for the past 12 years,” Obama said. “Mr. Michael Bloomberg is here.”

A voiceover then says “Leadership in action.” The ad also noted how Obama and Bloomberg cooperated in some policy issues.

However, the footage is actually quite old and was recorded back on October 25, 2013, which can be seen in the bottom left corner. Newsweek wrote that it happened at an early college high school somewhere in New York City.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign also has an ad showing Obama footage. It opens with the former president praising Biden, which was taken from his speech in 2017 when Biden received that Presidential Medal of Freedom award.

Barack Obama remains very popular within the party and his opinion is still respected by Democrat voters. In a previous Morning Consult poll last October, 73 percent indicated that they’ll likely vote a candidate backed by the former president.