Politics

Voters sick of Biden, Trump aren’t sold on RFK Jr. either, poll finds

A sizable bloc of Americans are unimpressed with their two main choices in November’s presidential election, but that hasn’t translated into firm support for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Just 5% of US adults say they’ll “definitely” vote for the 70-year-old scion Nov. 5, with another 13% saying that they would “probably” vote for the ex-environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.

The level of definite or potential support for Kennedy is down three percentage points from December, when 21% told Monmouth they would probably or definitely back the independent.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is hoping to undercut the duopoly. Jonah Elkowitz / New York Post

Among the 17% nationwide who have an unfavorable opinion of both Biden and Trump — so-called “double haters” — just 15% say they will definitely vote for RFK Jr., while another 23% say they will probably vote for him.

“Support for Kennedy is not particularly strong even among voters who dislike both Biden and Trump. If he can’t score a decisive win with these voters, it’s unclear what role he can play in this election other than as a spoiler,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“The poll results suggest that the Kennedy effect is minimal,” Murray added. “If the current situation holds, he would play a spoiler role only in a very close contest. Of course, everything is lining up for this election to be just that.”

Trump leads Biden by a single point in a head-to-head ballot test (44% to 43%), a matchup with definite RFK Jr. voters included (43% to 42%) and with all potential Kennedy voters included (38% to 37%), suggesting Kennedy is living up to his aim to be a “spoiler” for both major candidates.

The poll also shows that fewer than four in 10 Americans (39%) are “very” or “somewhat” fired up for a rematch of the 2020 contest, with nearly two-thirds of Republicans (63%) saying they were enthusiastic compared to 36% of Democrats and 27% of independents

However, the excitement level has surged from December, when just over one-quarter of Americans (27%) said they were “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about Biden-Trump, part II.

Donald Trump eked out a slim advantage over President Biden in the poll, albeit within the margin of error. REUTERS
President Biden has reportedly grown confident in his chances. AFP via Getty Images

On Friday, Trump unleashed on Kennedy, blasting him as a “Democrat Plant” and “a Radical Left Liberal.”

Nationally, in a five-way matchup between Trump, Biden, Kennedy, Cornel West, and Jill Stein, the 45th president sports a 1.6 percentage point lead, per the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.

At the moment, Kennedy is averaging 10.6% support in RCP’s national aggregate. He will need 15% support in select polling in order to qualify for the debate stage in the fall.

Voters are set to have the rare opportunity to choose between two men who have already served as president. REUTERS

In the Monmouth poll, a higher percentage of registered voters held favorable views of Trump (43%), than Biden (41%) while fewer held unfavorable views of the former president (57%) than his successor (58%).

By comparison, RFK Jr. is more of an unknown quantity, with 35% holding a favorable view of him and 40% holding an unfavorable view, while 26% said they hadn’t heard of him, or had no opinion.

The Monmouth poll sampled 746 registered voters April 18-22, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.3 percentage points.