Support for self-help author Marianne Williamson and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — President Joe Biden’s challengers for the Democratic presidential nomination — has reached double digits, according to the results of a new poll.
When asked whom they would vote for if the Democratic presidential primary were held today, 65% of the Change Research poll's respondents said they would pick Biden, versus the 11% who said Williamson and the 11% who said Kennedy. Another 11% were unsure.
In the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, Biden was ahead of his rivals by an average of 45 points and both Williamson and RFK Jr. have hit out at the Democratic Party’s decision to quash primary debates.
"I don't think that it's a good optics — particularly at this instance in our country's history, when so many Americans are worried that the system is rigged against them, that democracy is broken, that the elections don't really mean anything,” Kennedy said earlier this month.
“It's a mistake for the Democratic Party to take the position that we are going to name our — like the Soviet Union — the party gets to choose who the nominee is, rather than the people," he added.
A bright spot for Biden in the Change Research poll is that fact that in hypothetical matchups, the president beat his chief Republican opponents, including former President Donald Trump, 47% to 43%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 47% to 44%. According to the survey, Biden’s approval rating is 42%, versus the 56% who disapprove.
Among those surveyed, 19% said Trump has the best chance of defeating Biden in the general election, 19% said DeSantis has the best chance, and 27% said both men have an equal chance of defeating the president.
Biden announced he was running for reelection last month, six months after Trump launched his presidential campaign. DeSantis is expected to announce he is running for president in a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk during a Twitter Spaces online event Wednesday.
Should he win a second term, Biden will be 82 when he takes office and 86 when he leaves the White House. At 80 years old, he is already the oldest president in U.S. history.
The poll was conducted April 28 to May 2 and surveyed 1,208 registered voters. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.