Nearly one in five voters would consider voting for Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) as a third-party presidential candidate, according to a new poll, highlighting both public dissatisfaction with the two parties and a potential threat to President Joe Biden's reelection.
The poll, released Thursday by Monmouth University, found three in 10 voters would consider backing a third-party "fusion" option with a Democrat and Republican on the ticket. Sixteen percent would consider backing a ticket that featured Manchin as the presidential candidate and former Republican Utah governor Jon Huntsman as the vice presidential candidate.
Just 2 percent of voters would definitely support that ticket, while 14 percent probably would.
Earlier this month, Manchin teased a potential run on a "unity ticket" with Huntsman at a town hall put on by the centrist group No Labels.
"I’ve never spoiled a race," Manchin said. "If I get into the race, I’m going to win."
A third-party candidate could threaten Biden's hopes for reelection. A poll conducted last month found that if Cornel West, a socialist professor who supports race-based reparations, makes it on the ballot, he would garner 6 percent of the vote, which could take enough of Biden's support to let former president Donald Trump win.
Polling from earlier this year found just 37 percent of Democrats want Biden to serve four more years. Seventy-eight percent of voters said they think Biden should not run again.