Latest polls say third-party candidates could cause problems for Biden

President Joe Biden has slightly bolstered his position in the United States presidential election, but polls show that third-party candidates should not be underestimated in their impact on the race, especially the Democrat bid.

Mr Biden is closing in on Donald Trump’s lead in the polls among registered voters since late February, with only one point in it, with Mr Trump now leading Mr Biden 46 per cent to 45 per cent as of Saturday, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

However, independent candidates like Robert F Kennedy, philosophy academic Cornel West and physician Jill Stein are garnering slight attention from voters, and while they may not be scoring as high as the top two candidates, they still could potentially pose danger by pulling away support, especially for Mr Biden.

If no other candidates were to appear on the ballot other than the two leading candidates, Mr Biden was the more preferable among voters at 43 per cent, and Mr Trump at 40 per cent, according to a separate poll carried out by I&I/TIPP with 1,265 registered voters.

18 per cent of the voters did not choose either of the men, with nine per cent responding “other” and nine per cent saying they were “not sure”.

What’s interesting, however, is that when they did throw in the three other prominent third-party challengers into the mix, Mr Biden took the biggest blow and fell directly beside Mr Trump at an even 38 per cent each.

Mr Kennedy Jr took 11 per cent in the poll, Mr West at two per cent, and Ms Stein at one per cent; “other” falls to two per cent while “not sure” remains at nine.

I&I/Tipp say that with Mr Kennedy in the race, Mr Biden loses five percentage points of the vote, while Mr Trump only drops two, according to their poll.