The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds
that roughly 15% of voters would currently vote for one of
these two candidates in general election match-ups.
When the two candidates are mentioned as independent options
in match-ups between Mitt Romney and the two Democratic frontrunners,
Paul and Bloomberg attract roughly the same level of support.
When John McCain is mentioned as the Republican candidate
in a match-up with Barack Obama, Ron Paul earns 11% of the
vote while Bloomberg attracts 5%.
At this time, the net impact of such third party efforts
appears to benefit the Democrats.
In a head-to-head match-up between Romney and Obama, Obama
currently leads by nine percentage points. When Bloomberg
and Paul are added to the list of possible candidates, Obama’s
lead grows to twelve points, 42% to 30%. Paul attracts 8%
of the vote, Bloomberg 6%.
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Hillary Clinton leads Romney by five in a head-to-head match-up,
but her lead grows to fourteen points with Bloomberg and Paul
in the mix—Clinton 46% Romney 32% Bloomberg 7% Paul
7%.
In a McCain-Obama poll, the Democrat leads by five. That
grows to seven points with the third party options—Obama
40% McCain 33% Paul 11% Bloomberg 5%.
The pair of third party candidates attract from 13% to 17%
of Republicans in each match-up. They earn only 5% to 10%
of the Democratic vote.
