HALF of young voters are eyeing third-party candidates, poll shows as Robert F. Kennedy Jr joins ballot for 2024 battleground North Carolina

More than a quarter of voters say they'll likely vote for a third-party presidential candidate in November, and younger Americans are especially keen on the idea, a poll shows.

Fully 28 percent of voters are considering a vote that steers away from Democratic President Joe Biden or his Republican rival Donald Trump, a Rasmussen Reports survey shows.

But that shoots up to 47 percent for voters aged under 40.

Across all age groups, that would amount to 43 million voters willing to cross the box of a third-party candidate, based on the turnout in 2020.

Younger voters are eyeing third-party candidates, such as RFK Jr and Cornel West

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, says he's got enough signatures to appear on the ballot in battleground North Carolina 

That could be a game-changer for the leading independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, who this week said he has secured enough signatures to appear on the ballot in North Carolina, a key battleground state.

It could also benefit Cornel West, another independent, and Jill Stein, the long-shot Green Party candidate.

'More than a quarter of American voters say they might vote for a third-party presidential candidate this year,' Rasmussen said on Tuesday.

'Young voters are especially open to the idea.'

Analysts are keeping tabs on the third party candidates in this year's White House race.

They could outperform expectations because Trump and Biden have such low approval ratings, and are both widely seen as too old for the top job.

Still, the long-shot outsiders have a lot of ground to catch up.

RFK Jr leads the pack with support of about 7 percent of voters nationwide.

Green Party candidate is credited with pushing Donald Trump over the line in 2016  

West, a progressive civil rights leader, and Stein receive the support of about 2 percent and 1 percent of voters, respectively.

Meanwhile, a centrist group called No Labels has been working to launch its own 'unity' ticket.

RFK Jr's campaign got a boost this week, announcing that it had collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in North Carolina in November's election.

North Carolina is a vital swing state for all parties in 2024, including a potential third-party ticket.

Former President Trump won the state by just more than 1 percentage point in 2020, giving Republicans a slight edge and inspiring Democrats to raise their game there this cycle.

RFK Jr, the vaccine-skeptic son of former Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, has also qualified to appear on ballots in Utah, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and possibly in Nevada.

Civil rights leader and progressive intellectual Cornel West has the support of some 2 percent of voters nationwide

He last month picked tech lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.

It's not known what impact a third-party candidate will have on the outcome of this year's tight race between Trump and Biden.

But there are signs it is worse news for the incumbent.

RFK Jr. takes away more votes from Biden than from Trump by a ratio of five-to-four, a Trump senior advisor told DailyMail.com.

The political scion has shifted to the right, but still risks pulling from nostalgic Democrats or any of a substantial number of party members who register disapproval of Biden.

Still, Rasmussen's survey of 1,079 voters found that most respondents – 59 percent – were not likely to vote for an outsider.

Men are generally more favorable to third-party candidates than are women voters.

For example, 35 percent of men say they've voted for a third-party presidential candidate in the past, compared to 23 percent of women voters.

African-American and minority voters are also keener on third-party candidates than others.