Poll: Trump Leads Biden Nationally as Third-Party West Run Hurts Democrats

Harvard Professor Cornel West speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candi
AP Photo/Alex Brandon/Andrew Harnik, SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden nationally — a lead which only increases when Green Party candidate Cornel West is in the mix, the latest Emerson College polling data found.

The survey found Trump leading Biden in a head-to-head matchup by two points, garnering 46 percent support to Biden’s 44 percent. In all, ten percent remain undecided. However, Trump’s lead increases to five points when West is added to the mix, with 44 percent supporting Trump and Biden’s support dropping to 39 percent. In that scenario, four percent support West, and 13 percent are undecided.

This plays into the concerns of many Democrats, who fear the prominent civil rights activist, who announced his initial bid in June, could essentially aid Trump in his conquest to defeat Biden in 2024.

“This is not the time in order to experiment. This is not the time to play around on the margins,” Democrat National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said of West’s run over the summer.

“What we see is a lot of folks who want to be relevant and try to be relevant in these elections and not looking at the big picture,” Harrison continued, emphasizing the need of Democrats to focus on reelecting Biden.

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Former President Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod also deemed West’s third party bid “risky,” noting that the Green Party’s support of Jill Stein in 2016 essentially helped in Hillary Clinton’s political demise to Trump.

“In 2016, the Green Party played an outsized role in tipping the election to Donald Trump. Now, with Cornel West as their likely nominee, they could easily do it again. Risky business,” Axelrod warned in July.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is also among those who have expressed concern on the impact of West’s bid and how it could ultimately hurt Biden.

“I think he has a very long record of service and academic thought leadership,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Hill. “I think just right now, given the Electoral College, it’s very difficult to square the very real threat of a Republican presidency … [with] the risk of giving up the very small margin of electoral votes needed to ensure that President Biden wins.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on banning members of Congress from trading stocks on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on April 7, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Breitbart News detailed more:

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called West a “thoughtful guy” but said the “stakes are too high” for him to run this year.

“The stakes are too high this year, especially if Trump is the nominee,” McGovern said. “I think everybody, including the most progressive elements of our country, need to protect our democracy by stopping Donald Trump and supporting Joe Biden.”

McGovern then said he is worried that West may persuade voters away from Biden.

Emerson College polling also found 39 percent expressing the belief that Biden will be president after 2024, compared to 37 percent who said the same of Trump.

More per Emerson:

Overall, 47% of voters say the four indictments of Donald Trump makes them less likely to vote for him for president in 2024, while 36% say it makes them more likely to vote for the former president. Seventeen percent are unsure or have no opinion. Regarding Hunter Biden tax and felony gun charges, 46% say it makes them less likely to vote for Biden for president in 2024, while 23% say it makes them more likely to vote for him, and 31% are unsure or have no opinion.

The full survey was taken August 25-26, among 1,000 registered voters and has a +/- 3 percent margin of error.

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