RFK Jr. candidacy hurts Trump more than Biden, NBC News poll finds
The latest NBC News poll shows the third-party vote — especially independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — cutting deeper into Donald Trump's support than Joe Biden's
The latest national NBC News poll finds the third-party vote — and especially independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — cutting deeper into former President Donald Trump’s support than President Joe Biden’s, though the movement the other candidates create is within the poll’s margin of error.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to supporters on April 13, 2024, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall / APTrump leads Biden by 2 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup, 46% to 44%, in the new NBC News poll.
Yet when the ballot is expanded to five named candidates, Biden is the one with a 2-point advantage: Biden 39%, Trump 37%, Kennedy 13%, Jill Stein 3% and Cornel West 2%.
The big reason is that the poll finds a greater share of Trump voters in the head-to-head matchup backing Kennedy in the expanded ballot. Fifteen percent of respondents who picked Trump the first time pick Kennedy in the five-way ballot, compared with 7% of those who initially picked Biden.
In addition, Republican voters view Kennedy much more favorably (40% positive, 15% negative) than Democratic voters do (16% positive, 53% negative).
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