(PartiallyPolitics.com) – According to a recent NBC News poll, a greater proportion of Democrats compared to Republicans would consider voting for a 3rd party candidate in the 2024 presidential election if former President Trump and President Biden were the nominees for a major party. Among the registered voters surveyed, 44 percent expressed openness to supporting a 3rd party candidate if Biden and Trump were to face each other again, while 53 percent stated that they wouldn’t consider it.
Similar trends have been observed in previous polls conducted during past elections, where a significant number of respondents expressed their willingness to contemplate voting for a 3rd party candidate. For instance, in 2016 of March, an NBC poll found that 46 percent of respondents would consider voting for another candidate if Trump and Hillary Clinton were the options. Likewise, in 2012 of April, a poll revealed that 40 percent of respondents would consider a 3rd party candidate if Obama and the eventual Republican nominee, Senator Mitt Romney, were the major party choices.
The recent poll also indicated that Democrats were more inclined than Republicans to entertain the idea of voting for a 3rd party candidate. Among Democrats, 45 percent expressed their openness, while slightly over half of them stated that they would not consider it. Among Republicans, about 1/3 of respondents said they would consider a candidate that was 3rd party, whereas 63% stated that they would not.
Additionally, the pollsters discovered that several Democratic-leaning groups were receptive to the notion of voting for a 3rd party candidate. This included 58 percent of Hispanic voters, 57% of voters aged 18 to 34, 55% of voters who supported Senators Elizabeth Warren (Democrat-Massachusetts) or Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, and 52% of Black voters.
It is important to note that despite their current leads in their respective party’s primaries, most voters expressed a preference for neither Biden nor Trump to be their party’s nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
A bipartisan organization called No Labels has been advocating for a 3rd party “unity” ticket consisting of a Republican and a Democrat in the event that the major parties nominate candidates considered “unreasonably divisive.” However, some Dems have raised concerns that such 3rd party efforts, including those by No Labels, could undermine Biden’s chances of winning re-election. A recent poll conducted by Emerson College indicated that a 3rd party candidate could diminish Biden’s support compared to Trump’s.
Copyright 2023, PartiallyPolitics.com
