Joe Biden stands to lose more from third-party candidates than Donald Trump
Joe Biden’s winning 2020 election coalition, particularly younger voters, in the battleground states likely to decide the US presidency. Interest in independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the offspring of a celebrated Democratic political dynasty, and possibly moderate West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who is considering a run, is the highest in at least 20 years, according to a Gallup Poll.
That appeal is strongest among key Democratic constituencies such as the young, union households and urban residents, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of registered voters in seven swing states. Overall, Biden 2020 voters are more drawn to third-party alternatives while more of Donald Trump’s 2020 supporters stand by their man: 16% say they would vote for Kennedy or another independent candidate compared to 11% of Trump 2020 supporters, according to the swing-state poll, conducted Nov. 27 to Dec.
6. The question presented a scenario in which Biden and Trump are the major-party nominees while Kennedy, Cornel West and the Green Party’s Jill Stein also run for the presidency, all of whom have announced bids. The same poll showed the Biden coalition’s openness to an alternative outside the two major political parties is even greater: 41% said they are very or somewhat likely to consider such a candidate next year versus 35% of Trump 2020 voters.
us threat to Biden’s reelection bid, said Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican political strategist who has been conducting weekly focus groups with voters. Independent candidates “can do tremendous damage by peeling off core, small margins" Longwell said. “This is an election that’s going to be decided by small margins." The addition of a nominee running on
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