WASHINGTON _ President Mark Cuban?
That notion might not be just fodder for B-list sci-fi movies now that a new national survey by Public Policy Polling puts the polarizing Dallas Mavericks owner ahead of President Donald Trump in a hypothetical two-way race for the White House in 2020.
The poll, released Wednesday, shows Cuban leading Trump 42 percent to 38 percent among registered voters.
The result comes far too early to hold any real significance, particularly since the poll's 3.3 percent error margin means the spread is really a statistical tie. But it's sure to increase speculation that the billionaire political novice might actually consider running against his longtime nemesis.
And Cuban on Wednesday did little to tamp down expectations.
"I would only run if I had solutions to problems like health care, jobs and income inequality," Cuban, who played the president in "Sharknado 3," wrote in an email to The Dallas Morning News. "Once I get there, you will know. :)"
A Trump-Cuban election would be the ultimate escalation in a long-running clash between big-money moguls.
Most of the feud has played out on Twitter, a favored social medium for both. But Cuban took his trolling of Trump on the campaign trail during last year's White House race, serving as a high-profile surrogate for Democrat Hillary Clinton. And he hasn't let up in critiquing Trump.
"It's easy to call him an idiot because he is," Cuban said last week.
Though Trump has already dismissed Cuban _ saying he's "not smart enough to run for president" _ speculation continues to swirl around the Mavs owner's political plans.
Cuban said last month that if Trump "lasts four years, I'll be there to kick his a--." He said last week that he would consider a run if the "circumstances were right." And he said Tuesday that "I wouldn't put it high on my list of probabilities but we'll see what happens."
But it remains to be seen if the latest survey will have an effect, particularly since any polling this far away from an election is more gossip than information.
North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, is known for surveying provocative topics in addition to the usual issues. And it's worth noting that the survey described Cuban as a Democrat, while the billionaire considers himself to be an independent.
"Those polls are always entertaining," Cuban wrote to the News.
The poll, conducted Aug. 18-21, has an error margin of plus or minus 3.3 percent. Eighty percent of the 887 participants were drawn from the 2016 vote file and then reached on the phone. Twenty percent conducted the survey over the internet through an opt-in panel.
