Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential candidacy could do more damage to former President Trump than President Biden at the voting booth, according to the latest reports. NBC News Poll of lace.
A head-to-head poll released Sunday shows Trump with a 2-point lead over Biden, but third-party candidates have also been added to give Biden a lead over the former president.
It’s a five-way race between Trump, Biden, Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party member Jill Stein, with Biden leading by two points. Opinion polls show Mr. Kennedy’s approval rating is about 39%, compared to 37% for Mr. Trump, and Mr. Kennedy received about 13% of the vote.
About 7% of Biden supporters in the head-to-head race switched to Kennedy. For Trump supporters, that percentage jumped to 15%.
Polls show that Republicans have a more favorable view of Kennedy than Democrats. About 40 percent of Republican voters liked Kennedy, compared to just 16 percent of Democrats. A majority of Democrats (53%) have a negative opinion of the candidate.
“At this stage, [Kennedy’s] “There appears to be more support for Trump supporters than for Biden supporters,” said pollster Jeff Horwitt.
Both Biden and Trump have attacked Kennedy as political analysts question the influence of unconventional independent candidates. Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat but also an anti-establishment vaccine skeptic, enjoys support from both parties.
Polls on Kennedy’s influence go both ways, with majorities saying he could hurt Biden’s chances more than Trump.
The Biden campaign has doubled down on Kennedy’s message in recent weeks, releasing an ad boasting support from nearly the entire Kennedy family. The presidential candidate, the son of a former attorney general and nephew of a former president, has no support from his politically influential family.
The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters last week and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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