President Joe Biden holds a strong lead among New Hampshire voters over 2024 Democrat primary challengers Robert Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, according to new poll results.
Biden has 68% support among Democrat primary voters in New Hampshire, with Kennedy (9%) and Williamson (8%) far behind, according to the Saint Anselm College survey results released Tuesday.
The strong showing for Biden, 80, is somewhat surprising because 70% of respondents indicated they are concerned about his age. He'll turn 81 in November.
Only 34% said they were concerned about the age of former President Donald Trump, 77, currently the heavy favorite in the race for the Republican nomination.
The Saint Anselm poll also found that 100% of respondents who identified as having "very conservative" ideology said they would vote for Kennedy in a Democratic Party primary, underscoring the belief among many Biden allies that Kennedy is being boosted by some on the right in an effort to weaken the president.
A Quinnipiac University survey earlier the month found that 70% of Democrat-leaning voters support Biden in a 2024 primary. Kennedy received 17%.
Biden allies and Democratic Party strategists have dismissed Kennedy's support as being a result of strong name identification. They also say his anti-vaccine views, positions on the war in Ukraine, and stances on mass shootings oppose widely supported beliefs among Democrat voters.
"Let's be clear: RFK Jr is not a Democrat. His group gives $ to the GOP. He's an anti science, anti vax, pro conspiracy whack job running to get more eyes on his discredited theories. His supporters? Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, & fringe Reddit boards. The guy's a liar & a kook," Jim Messina, who led former President Obama's 2012 campaign, tweeted Wednesday.
In Rasmussen Reports survey results Tuesday, 31% say it's likely Kennedy will be the Democrat presidential nominee in 2024, although just 9% say it's very likely.
The Saint Anselm survey was conducted June 21-23 among 1,065 New Hampshire registered voters. It has a margin of error of 4.8% for questions about the Democrat primary ballot.
Biden's plan to overhaul his party's 2024 presidential primary schedule remains unsettled, after a Democratic Party rules committee gave New Hampshire until Sept. 1 to comply with new rules that leaders there fiercely oppose.
At issue is Biden's plan to strip Iowa's caucus of its traditional post leading off primary voting and replace it with South Carolina, which would vote on Feb. 3, 2024. New Hampshire has long held the nation's first primary after Iowa's caucus.
But under the new calendar, it would vote next, together with Nevada, on Feb. 6 — a change New Hampshire officials have decried.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.