Mark Cuban was a lot closer to running for president of the United States than you think.
Speaking on David Axelrod's podcast, The Axe Files, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks said he hired a pollster to gauge his chances of becoming president if he ran as an independent.
According to Cuban, via Dan Wolken of USA Today, the highest projection he received saw him getting 25 percent of the vote.
"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 has always been intigured with the idea of becoming president and he's never been afraid to tell it how it is, and that includes the nation’s politicians.
In March, Cuban blasted members on both sides of the aisle with a tweet, criticizing them for dragging their feet on an economic stimulus package. His straightforwardness led the trending hashtag “Mark Cuban for President” the next day.
Cuban, 61, later revealed to RADIO.COM’s “Scal & Pals” that he was ready to run for office, except there was one caveat: his family.
“I actually would have done it this time around if my family had not voted it out,” he said. “I just look at the options and I see politicians running for office and I just thought I could do a better job, but my family is still important. My kids are 10, 13 and 16 and that’s too good an age and too important of an age to mess with.”
The "Shark Tank" star must have changed his mind since that interview as he revealed on the The Axe Files that he commissioned the pollster as recently as last month.
Despite Cuban deciding not to run, he's proven in the past that he'll always leave the door open for a future run at becoming the president.
“I got enough time if it’s still important to me next time around I can look at it again,” he said to Scal and Pals.
In that same interview, Cuban admitted that he was shocked at how overwhelmingly positive the reaction his expletive-laden tweet directed at Senators Chuck Schumer and John Cornyn was, especially considering that nothing is ever positive on Twitter.
But the Mavericks owner pointed to the unique position he is in:
“I have platform. I don’t need more money. I don’t need to worry about making money. Been through enough now with benefit of some experience. If people like what I’m saying, great,” he said. “I think I have the advantage where I can rip anybody and everybody and not give a s--t what they think about me and what they say and I think people are starting to respect that.”
Cuban has also been a leading voice within the NBA and sports community since the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the suspension of several sports leagues and cancellation to other sporting events.
He was among the first owners to publicly acknowledge he will take care of arena employees who are no longer receiving paychecks due to the suspended season.
“To me it was doing the right thing,” he said. “[The NBA] is filled with people with big hearts who would have done it anyway. It was right thing to do. … millions people have lost job and don’t know when their next paycheck is going to be … trying to do what we can and help as many people as we can.”
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