Republican strategist Karl Rove said Democrats “should be worried” about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent candidacy for the White House.
Democrats intensified their criticism of Kennedy after he announced Nicole Shanahan as his running mate on Tuesday. Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Rove on “American Report” whether Democrats should be worried that Kennedy’s campaign could hurt President Biden’s re-election efforts. .
“Well, they should be worried. In 2016, third-party candidates won 5.8% of the vote. That’s 1 in 17 voters voting for a third-party candidate. “And in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Green Party candidates won more votes than Hillary Clinton lost in some states,” he said Wednesday.
“In 2020, 1.9 percent, or 1 in 50 voters, voted for a third-party candidate. And in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, Libertarian candidates lost more votes than Donald Trump lost in those states. So even if you get a small percentage of the votes, if it’s in the right place, it can cause a lot of damage,” Loeb continued.
He also noted that it’s not clear how many states Kennedy will be on the ballot.
“So we don’t know how many points he’ll ultimately score. But in 2016, even though he didn’t even become a candidate until the summer, dissident Republicans won 20 odd states. “We got on the ballot in 37 states,” he said.
“So there’s still a chance for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to get a ton of votes. And one of the reasons he can get on the ballot is if he has enough money and that “I can tell you that’s why he chose the ex-wife of one of the founders of Google to be his running mate,” he added.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that Biden has a narrow lead over former President Trump in head-to-head competition, but when third-party candidates are taken into account, Biden has a slight lead over the former president. did.
In a three-way race between Biden, Trump, and Kennedy, Trump has a 2.4 point lead over Biden, according to Hill/Decision Desk’s average national poll. Kennedy trails both candidates with an approval rating of nearly 10 percentage points.
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
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