As the November election approaches, the presence of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot is causing concern for both major political candidates.
Both the Biden and Trump campaigns are paying close attention to how Kennedy is progressing, particularly after managing to secure his name on another state’s ballot, this time in California.
The Trump campaign fears it will take away votes, essentially giving Biden a second term, as more Trump supporters have switched to RFK than are leaning toward Biden, according to NewsNation.
The Golden State is the third statewide vote that Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan have officially qualified for; the others are Utah and Michigan.
California is the state with the most electoral college votes in the country.
The pair also managed to obtain enough signatures to access ballots in seven other states, including New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa, but they have not yet been validated by election officials.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running as an independent candidate, is now on the ballot in California, his third state along with Utah and Michigan.
Despite polls hovering around 8.5%, Kennedy’s presence worries both major parties, and Trump and Biden strategists are concerned about his potential impact.
Kennedy is seen during a recent campaign rally alongside his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.
Kennedy had run as a Democrat, but switched his candidacy last fall to run as an independent and is seeking to appear on state ballots across the country in an attempt to take on Biden and Trump, arguing that both are unfit to serve.
Although his campaign aims to gather signatures from all 50 states before the deadline, experts have suggested that Kennedy would only need a handful of key battleground states to potentially impact the outcome on Election Day.
A recent survey conducted by The hill suggests that Kennedy has almost 8.5 percent of the vote and is far behind Trump; polls had just over 42 percent, while Biden is close to 41 percent.
Depending on the poll, Trump is between one and four points ahead of Biden nationwide, including in most battleground states.
But NewsNation is suggesting that RFK would likely take votes away from Trump, leaving Biden ahead with a two-point lead.
Even with less than 10 percent of the vote, RFK Jr.’s mere presence irritates Donald Trump, who posted a rant on Truth Social last week.
The outlet suggests that voters who might have been more likely to vote for Trump will switch to Kennedy, more so than voters who would likely vote for Biden.
Independent and third-party candidates face great difficulties in an American political system largely built around two major parties.
Biden’s campaign team sees RFK Jr.’s presence in the race as a threat and has assembled a team of full-time staff dedicated to highlighting the contrast between the president and Kennedy.
Kennedy, known for his vaccine advocacy, has used podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience and social media in a bid to appeal to younger voters unhappy with the choice between Biden and Trump, who are 81 and 77, respectively.
Although Kennedy would not have enough of a tie to secure a presidential victory, he could very well gain enough support to ruin either of the favorites.
Even with less than 10 percent of the vote, RFK Jr.’s mere presence irritates Donald Trump, who posted a rant on Truth Social last week.
Independent and third-party candidates face great difficulties in an American political system largely built around two major parties.
“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘plant’, a radical left liberal who has been created to help corrupt Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of the United States, get re-elected,” Trump wrote.
“A vote for Junior would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, which could swing in either direction, but would only go against the Democrats if the Republicans knew the real story about him,” Trump added.
Kennedy soon responded to
“President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should be better resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate,” Kennedy tweeted.
Republican strategist Alex Conant said Trump’s rant is a clear sign that he is worried about the Kennedy effect.
“You don’t attack someone you don’t care about at all,” Conant said. The hill.
“If you look at the type of media that RFK uses, you look at his very populist message, his history of embracing conspiracy theories — there’s a lot of things there that make Trump World nervous.
“Both Democrats and Republicans are in a race to define Kennedy, because in a close race, his supporters could be crucial,” Conant said.
In a radio interview last week, Trump said he believed Kennedy being in the race was detrimental to both him and Biden.
‘They say it hurts Biden. I guess I’m not sure that’s true. I think it probably hurts both of us,” Trump said while speaking with conservative John Fredericks. “But it might hurt Biden a little bit more, you don’t know.”
Previously, when Trump believed Kennedy’s presence would likely hurt Biden’s chances the most, he did not criticize him.
Trump has posted a recent video saying, “If I were a Democrat, I would vote for RFK Jr. every time over Biden,” and has at times criticized Kennedy Jr. for being more “radical left” than Biden.
“Depending on which poll you look at, Kennedy poses problems for either of them,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
‘This is one of the reasons why trying to accurately forecast the year 2024 is going to be very difficult, because it will depend on a handful of states, and that means a handful of voters. And what RFK means to any of the candidates in any of those states, I just don’t think we know yet,” Heye added.
Democrats are more concerned about how Kennedy could hurt Biden in several swing states.
It brings back memories of 2016, when Green Party candidate Jill Stein won enough voters in swing states to possibly help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
In mid-April, a group of more than a dozen strong Kennedys delivered a high-profile public endorsement of incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden at a rally in Pennsylvania, explicitly rejecting RFK Jr.’s candidacy for the White House.
Earlier this month, RFK acknowledged that even his closest family members, including his sister, Kerry Kennedy, support Biden.
“Some of them don’t like the fact that I show up,” Kennedy said of his relatives.
But the move by Biden’s campaign indicates how seriously the president’s team is taking the long-shot candidate who uses the persistent Democratic magic of his last name to siphon support from the incumbent.
Kerry Kennedy called Biden “my hero” and said, without mentioning his brother, that the family wanted to “make it very clear” their support for Biden’s re-election.
Biden, who keeps a bust of Robert F. Kennedy in the Oval Office, called the endorsements “an incredible honor.”