Biden loses support as 20 percent of Hispanic and Black voters seek third party alternative: USA TODAY poll

President Biden has lost a significant percentage of his base among Hispanics and Blacks, according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, which says 20% of each of the groups are now seeking a third-party alternative.

The poll, which was published by USA Today Monday evening says that the president is heading into the election year “showing alarming weakness among stalwarts of the Democratic base, with Donald Trump leading among Hispanic voters and young people.”

The survey was conducted by landline and cellphone last week among of 1,000 likely voter and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The poll says that Biden is now trailing among Hispanic voters by 5 percentage points, 39%-34%, a huge shift from 2020 when he overshadowed Trump in the demographic by more than 2 to 1, 65%-32%.

Trump still has the support of 12% of Black voters, the same percentage he clung to in 2020, but Biden has declined from 87% support of Black voters to 63%, according to the Roper Center.

While the poll says that Biden is losing support, most of those defecting from his Democratic base on not throwing their support to his Republican opponent.

Disenchanted with both sides on a variety of issues, twenty percent of both Hispanic and Black voters, and 21% of young voters, are just more interested in backing a third-party candidate.

As a result of his losses among both Hispanic and Black voters, Biden is now trailing Trump 39%-37% with 17% support going to an unnamed third-party candidate.

When seven candidates were named, Trump's lead increased by 3 percentage points, 37%-34%, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading third-party candidates at 10%.

While that number is not enough to get Kennedy elected, it could impact the outcome of the election for either Biden or Trump, who is currently the presumptive Republican nominee.

The findings underscore the formidable political task the president faces this year to win a second term.

And among Generation Z voters under 35, Trump now leads 37%-33% despite their opposition to the Republican view on abortion and climate change, a huge shift from 2020 when Biden overwhelmingly won the youth vote.

“Although Trump hasn't grown support among Black voters, he has closed the deficit because third-party voters come off of Biden's support among Blacks,” Suffolk University’s Political Research Center Director David Paleologos told USA Today. “A young voter or a person of color voting 'third party' is a vote away from President Biden, and a vote away from President Biden is a vote for Donald Trump.”

According to the poll, Biden’s greatest challenge is generating enthusiasm among voters since he only generated half enthusiasm Trump did.

The poll said 44% of Trump supporters said one a scale from 1-10 they had a level of "10" enthusiasm for their candidate whereas only 18% called themselves a "10".

Republican voters will cast primary ballots later this month on Jan. 15 in the Iowa caucuses and on Jan. 23 the New Hampshire primary.

Trump currently leads in New Hampshire at 44.1% in an average of recent polls by fivethirtyeight.com, with former Ambassador Nikki Haley at 25.7% and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 11.1%.

While there has been speculation Biden could drop out of the race and turn the reins over to former California Gov. Gavin Newsom, he currently faces no viable challenge for the Democratic nomination.

In the USA Today poll, 74% of likely Democratic primary voters support him.

Nine percent back Marianne Williamson and 2% Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips with 15% undecided—a number that could help Biden as voters get closer to the reality of a second Trump presidency.  

The poll showed that in the event Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president, her support would most likely be even lower than Biden’s with lower job approval ratings than the president among Black voters, 56% compared with 68%.

She also trails Biden among voters younger than 35 at 27% compared to his base of 32%.

The poll said that Biden's job approval rating is 39% while 58% disapprove, and of those, 43% “strongly” disapprove and only 13% “strongly” approve.

The vice president’s approval rating is 33% approve, 57% disapprove, and of those, 40% “strongly” disapprove and 7% “strongly” approve.

Still, many of those who have been polled across the board—especially in the Hispanic community—have cited the economy, jobs and health care costs as their priorities, a fact that could benefit the president since 29% say the economy is improving.

That number increased 8 percentage points since the survey in late October, the highest number since August 2021.

On Dec. 14, ADN America reported that the National Survey of Latino Voters conducted in November by UnidosUS and Mi Familia Vota—two organizations that has spent decades mobilizing Hispanic voters—found the top three issues concerning the demographic were “inflation/rising cost of living,” “jobs and the economy” and health care costs.

When asked to rank the top three issues of concern, 54% of Latinos named inflation and the increase in cost of living as their top priorities while 44% named jobs and the economy and 33% named health care.

The survey polled 3,037 Latinos, 2,707 registered voters and 330 eligible voters.

The survey also found that housing affordability “have emerged as a new issue” with Arizona, California and Nevada “leading the way.” 

Border security ranked relatively high as the sixth highest priority and education and public-school quality as seventh. 

Hispanics ranked social issues as a lower priority. Abortion ranked only ninth, climate change ranked 12th, and “racial justice” ranked 13th.