Rap Star Kanye West Drawing 2% Support Nationwide, New Poll Indicates

Rap star and insurgent presidential candidate Kanye West has garnered 2% support nationwide, according to a poll released Wednesday by Politico-Morning Consult.

The survey also show presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden with 49% national support, with incumbent Republican President Donald Trump at 40%. The poll of 1,983 registered voters has a 2% margin of error.

West, 43, announced his candidacy on July 4 and has started his own political party, the Birthday Party. His running mate, Michelle Tidball, is a little-known preacher from Wyoming and neither West nor Tidball have any notable public-sector experience.

West has made a number of controversial statements since announcing his presidential run. In an interview with Forbes published on July 8, West said he is suspicious of a vaccine for COVID-19, calling it “the mark of the beast.” He also said “Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work.”

During his first rally in South Carolina later in July, West incorrectly said that abolitionist Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.” He also tearfully revealed that he and his wife Kim Kardashian almost aborted their first child.

West has currently qualified to appear in four states: Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Vermont. He has also filed to appear on ballots in Missouri, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The New York Times reported on Aug. 4 that Trump's allies and Republican activists appear to be pushing to get West on state ballots to siphon votes from Biden. West, who has admitted to running a spoiler campaign to hurt Biden, recently met with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

West sat down with Trump in the Oval Office in 2018. He has previously praised Trump and donned the “Make America Great Again” hat, a slogan from Trump’s presidential campaign.