Biden world worried about third-party spoilers boosting Trump

There's a creeping fear inside Biden's circle that the greatest threat to his reelection may come less from Trump and more from minor-party spoiler candidates.

WASHINGTON — There's a creeping fear inside President Joe Biden's circle that the greatest threat to his re-election may come less from the Republican nominee and more from minor-party spoiler candidates.

In a new national NBC News poll, Biden is tied with former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, at 46% in a head-to-head matchup. But when third-party options are included, Trump leads Biden 39% to 36%.

Whether it's the academic Cornel West, a yet-to-be-named standard-bearer for the group "No Labels" or nominees of the more established Green and Libertarian parties, the third-party hopefuls have become the chief internal worry in Biden world, according to more than a half-dozen people who are in regular contact with the White House.

Third-party voters have ‘given up on Biden,’ Green Party candidate Cornel West saysAug. 22, 202309:41“It’s pretty f---ing concerning,” said a person familiar with White House discussions about the matter.

Biden met with Hillary Clinton, who had to contend with third-party candidates as the Democratic nominee in 2016, in a private pull-aside at the White House when she visited this month, said two people briefed on their interaction. Clinton pressed Biden to take the third-party threat seriously and come up with a way to compensate for it, one of the sources said.