Almost half in new poll would consider third-party presidential candidate

Almost half of voters in a poll released Wednesday said they would consider casting their ballot for a third-party presidential candidate in the 2024 election.

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 47 percent of respondents said they would consider voting for a third-party candidate, while another 47 percent said they would not.

Independents were much more likely than Democrats or Republicans to say they would consider voting for a candidate not running under a major party banner. While 64 percent of independents said they would consider a third-party ticket, just 35 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of Republicans said the same.

“With neither President Biden nor former President Trump knocking it out of the park on favorability, almost half of the country would consider another option,” Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst, said in a press release. 

“No specific name for the candidate, no specific designation for the party, but it is a vivid indication that for many voters, the status quo is a no-go,” he added.

As the 2024 race heats up, it appears increasingly likely that the election will be a Biden-Trump rematch. Biden, who is facing challenges from two long-shot Democratic candidates, sits well ahead of both, with 71 percent support among Democratic and Democratic leaning voters, the poll found.

Trump is also the clear front-runner in a crowded Republican field, garnering 54 percent among Republican and Republican leaning voters, the poll found. His closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, sits 29 points behind.

However, both Biden and Trump have low favorability ratings. While 40 percent of voters in the poll said they had a favorable opinion of the incumbent president, 38 percent said the same of the former president.

The poll underlines Democratic concerns that third-party candidates could help hand the election to Trump, should he win the GOP primary.

Professor and activist Cornel West has already launched his presidential bid as the Green Party candidate. And the centrist political group No Labels stoked speculation with an event in New Hampshire this week featuring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a moderate who has refused to count out his own presidential run.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted July 13-17 with 2,056 adults and had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. The poll included 1,809 registered voters with a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points.