Nearly 30 percent of Americans say they don’t believe President Biden or former President Trump would be good in the White House if elected in November, according to a new Gallup poll published Wednesday.
Slightly more respondents said they believe Trump would be effective than Biden — 35 percent to 30 percent. That’s a change from similar polling in 2020, which found that more said Biden would be good as president than Trump if reelected.
The number of respondents doubting both candidates also increased, from 25 percent in 2020 to 29 percent this month.
The poll represents a rising discontent among voters, especially moderates and independents, with both of the major parties’ candidates and underscores the impact third-party candidates could have on the 2024 election.
About 42 percent of independents said neither Biden nor Trump would be a good president, with only a quarter of the group siding with either candidate.
Of those who said they don’t think either would be a good president, nearly half — 46 percent — said they would vote for a third-party candidate. A third said they would pick either Biden or Trump, while 17 percent said they would not vote at all.
While no third-party candidate is in contention to win any states, the group could play a major role as spoiler in tipping the November election. Democrats have turned up the heat on independent Robert Kennedy, Jr., in recent weeks after he announced a running mate, urging voters to move away from him.
Despite briefly running for the Democratic nomination, the independent candidate’s outsider position, government skepticism and anti-vaccine posturing has made him popular with anti-establishment voters in both parties.
He consistently has a notable baseline of support in most polls, garnering about 10 percent of the vote in a group of Wall Street Journal polls of swing states published Wednesday.
The Gallup poll surveyed about 1,000 people over the course of March, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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