New polling data has been released that reveals how independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others are impacting President Joe Biden’s re-election efforts, and if I were him, I’d definitely be worried. The information says that these candidates are boosting former President Donald Trump and taking a lot of votes away from Biden himself in four key battleground states. Ouch.
Biden doesn’t really need help to lose to Trump. His economic policies, lack of action on the border crisis, and obvious cognitive decline are doing that just fine. However, the fact that these candidates exist and have managed to pull in a sizable following, large enough to actually do damage to a major party candidate’s campaign — the incumbent no less — is astounding. It’s a clear demonstration of just how far down the pit we’ve slid.
via The Daily Caller:
Trump’s leads grow against Biden among likely voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina when Kennedy, independent Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are on the ballot, according to The Cook Political Report/BSG/GS Strategy Group survey. The margins between Trump and Biden don’t change in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in a five-way race, while the former president’s nine-point lead drops by one point in Nevada.
With Kennedy and the other third-party candidates included in the poll, Trump’s margins grow from one to four points in Arizona; from two to three points in Michigan; from three to four points in Georgia; and from seven to eight points in North Carolina.
The poll found Kennedy notching 10% in Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia; 7% in Pennsylvania and Michigan; 8% in North Carolina; and 9% in Wisconsin.
Trump is currently in the lead in several major battleground states, except Wisconsin, where the pair are tied in both scenarios. Let that sink in for a minute. Biden has done such a horrible, terrible, no-good job that he’s losing in most of the places he won the last time around. Talk about buyer’s remorse. Geesh.
And if that’s not an indictment on policies and the Democratic Party’s agenda, I don’t know what is.
Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and other outside groups have ramped up efforts to combat Kennedy and other third-party candidates in 2024 over concerns their presence on the ballot could siphon more votes from the president than Trump.
The RealClearPolitics averages for each battleground state suggest Trump’s leads grow against Biden when Kennedy, West and Stein are on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. Conversely, the former president loses ground in a five-way race in Michigan.
During the 2020 presidential election, Trump lost the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona. Now, I’m not saying that loss was, how shall I say this, not without some controversy — wink, wink — but they were losses nonetheless.
“The Cook Political Report/BSG/GS Strategy Group survey polled 3,969 likely voters across the seven battleground states between May 6 and May 13 with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6%,” the report said, going on to add, “Individually, the poll garnered 730 respondents in Pennsylvania, 606 in Michigan, 601 in North Carolina, 600 in Georgia, 527 in Arizona, 503 in Wisconsin and 402 in Nevada. The survey yielded margins of error of plus or minus 3.6% in Pennsylvania; 4% in North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia; 4.3% in Arizona; 4.4% in Wisconsin; and 4.9% in Nevada.