Most say Biden, Trump not ‘fit’ for presidency, nearly half could vote third-party: polls
A majority of Americans believe neither President Biden nor former President Donald Trump are “fit to serve another term” in the Oval Office — and almost half might back a third-party candidate next year if the two are their party’s nominees, according to two recent polls.
A Yahoo News/YouGov survey found 55% of US adults believe Biden is unfit for the presidency, and 53% say the same of Trump.
When asked their reasoning, 20% of Americans say Biden, 80, is “incompetent,” 12% say he is “too old,” 10% say he is “corrupt,” 9% say he is “doing a bad job,” and 3% say he is “dangerous.”
More than one-fifth (21%) of those surveyed say Trump, 77, is “dangerous,” 17% say he is “corrupt,” 6% say he is “incompetent,” 5% say “he did a bad job during his first term,” and 2% say he is “too old.”
Just 36% say the current GOP frontrunner is fit to serve as president again, while 27% say the same of the Democratic incumbent, with support for the candidates falling largely along party lines.
In a hypothetical rematch of the 2024 election, 47% of registered voters support Biden, while 43% support Trump, 6% say they’re not sure which they would support and 4% say they would vote for someone else.
The poll puts Biden’s job approval rate at 40% among registered voters — the same percentage that “strongly disapprove” of the incumbent. More than half of registered voters (54%) disapprove of the job the president is doing.
Meanwhile, just 53% of registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents want Biden as the Democratic nominee, while 35% say they would rather have someone else take up the party’s standard. However, 69% say they would back the president in their state’s primary or caucus, while 7% say they would back Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and 5% say they would vote for Marianne Williamson. Another 17% said they weren’t sure.
The poll was released two days after Trump announced he is the target of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — and will likely face a third indictment as a result.
Large majorities of Americans in the Yahoo News/YouGov poll also say that “serious crimes” may have occurred after the 2020 election.
Seven in ten Americans say “inciting or aiding an insurrection against the federal government” is a serious crime; 70% also say “conspiring to overturn the results of a presidential election” is a serious crime; and 67% say “attempting to obstruct the certification of a presidential election” is a serious crime.
If Trump is convicted of a serious crime, 60% said he should drop out of the presidential race, whereas 27% say he should not. A clear majority of Americans (62%) also say Trump should not be allowed to serve as president again if found guilty while just 24% say he should.
Smith indicted the former president on 37 counts last month for allegedly lying to federal officials and withholding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump in March for having allegedly made fraudulent “hush money” payments to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
A Quinnipiac University poll shows 47% percent would consider a third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election, though the same percentage say they would not.
Nearly two-thirds of self-described independents (64%) say they would consider going third-party, while just 35% of Democrats and 38% of Republicans said the same.
Left-wing activist and professor Cornel West has already launched a presidential campaign under the banner of the People’s Party.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) may also be eyeing an independent bid for the presidency in 2024 as the candidate of choice for self-proclaimed centrists.
Both polls show Trump holding a double-digit lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the national Republican primary. Yahoo/YouGov has the former president up 48% to 23% over DeSantis, while Quinnipiac has Trump up 54% to 25%. No other declared GOP candidate polls above 4% in either survey.
In the Quinnipiac survey, Biden gets 71% support from Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters, compared to 14% for RFK Jr. and 7% for Williamson.
In a hypothetical general election, Biden leads Trump by five percentage points in the popular vote, 49% to 44%.
Roughly a third of voters (31%) listed the economy as their primary election issue, followed by 29% who say preserving democracy was their top issue. Those two concerns were followed by abortion, gun violence (7% each), immigration, health care, racial inequality (6% each), and climate change (5%).
The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 2,056 adults nationwide from July 13-17, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.2%.
That included 1,809 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.3%; 727 Republican and Republican-leaning voters, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.6%; and 763 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.6%.
Yahoo News/YouGov polled 1,638 US adults between July 13-17, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.7%.
