24 percent would support third party

UTICA, N.Y., Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Almost one-quarter of U.S. voters say they might vote for a third-party presidential candidate, with young voters and independents more likely.

More than four in 10 of voters between the ages of 18 and 29, and 36 percent of those who identify themselves as independents told the Zogby Poll they might for an alternative to Republicans and Democrats. Twenty-four percent of all voters said they might vote for a third party.

Men at 31 percent were almost twice as likely as women at 16 percent to say they would consider a third-party candidate.

While every presidential election brings out a group of minor-party candidates, most get only a tiny percentage of the vote. But businessman Ross Perot, running in 1992 and 1996, lured enough people away from the two major parties that Bill Clinton won with only a plurality of the vote, and Ralph Nader may have captured enough votes in some states in 2000 to swing the election to George W. Bush.

Zogby polled 2,064 likely voters online Nov. 15-17. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points for the entire sample.