- The Democratic National Committee is ramping up its efforts against independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other third-party candidates, seeing them as having the potential to undermine President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
- Recent national and battleground state polls show Kennedy receiving more support from Biden than Trump, with the former president’s lead widening when independents are elected. It is shown that
- “Kennedy is a first-class weirdo, and there are a lot of weirdos in the Democratic Party who aren’t happy with Biden. So if you give them a third weird door and let them pass, they might do it.” Scott Jennings, a veteran Republican strategist and campaign veteran, told DCNF.
New polls across the country and in battleground states show why Democrats are concerned that independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy could undermine President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is ramping up its efforts against Mr. Kennedy and other third-party candidates in hopes of stopping them from siphoning votes from Mr. Biden’s base. Recent polls have found that independents support Biden more than Trump, in contrast to polling data after Kennedy left the Democratic Party in early October. . (Related: Independent RFK Jr.’s vice presidential candidate has a long history of donating to left-wing politicians and organizations)
Trump’s lead widens slightly one point to 2.4 points According to RealClearPolitics (RCP) averages, national turnout is high when Kennedy, Justice for All Parties candidate Cornel West, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are on the ballot.Trump has an advantage in a three-way race with Kennedy spread to 5.4 points.
Additionally, the former president’s advantage increases even more when battleground states such as Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia include Kennedy and other third-party candidates, according to the RCP average. .
Trump’s lead over Biden soars 5.2 points to 6 points In Arizona. 3 points to 6 points In Nevada. 0.8 points to 2.7 points In Wisconsin. 0.2 points to 2 points in Pennsylvania. 4.4 points to 6.7 points North Carolina.and 5.2 points to 7.4 points In Georgia.
All of these battleground states won Last cycle, the difference was less than 3 points.
Kennedy enjoys approval ratings of 5.5% to 10.3% in these states, according to RCP averages. Nationally, independents would receive 10.3% of the vote in a five-way race, compared to 12.3% if only Trump, Trump and Biden voted.
The trend in this poll differs from a poll taken just days after Kennedy announced he was switching to running as an independent.
NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist investigation An announcement on October 17 revealed that Mr. Biden has a 3-point lead over Mr. Trump in a head-to-head race. The president’s lead over Kennedy widened to 7 points, with independents gaining 16% support.
other vote Similar results were obtained during the same period, including Quinnipiac. poll It was released on November 1st.
Las Vegas, Nevada – March 19: US President Joe Biden speaks at the Stupak Community Center. (Ian Moll/Getty Images)
Political operatives and election experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Kennedy favored Biden over Trump because of his family’s legacy and prestige, as well as the president’s weaker base of support than the former. It is said that there is a high possibility of gaining support from
“Biden’s 2020 victory was facilitated by rampant media and technological bias, some of which has since been exposed and marginalized. And despite those headwinds, Biden won by a narrow margin.” He just did it,” veteran Republican strategist Mark Weaver told DCNF. . “Many Biden voters, who have fond memories of the Democratic Party’s most iconic last name, will first window shop and then walk into a store and buy a Kennedy brand. Most Trump supporters will He would take a quick look and continue walking toward the Trump Super Center.”
Charles Block, an election expert and political science professor at the University of Georgia, said Democrats see a threat to Kennedy’s candidacy because some of his views on vaccines, censorship and Ukraine are more in line with Kennedy’s. I believe he will try to inform voters about his policies in order to fight back. Republican.
“So I think what’s going to happen is that Democrats are going to try to educate those voters and basically say, ‘Look, this is not the Kennedy family that you think of in terms of policy positions.'” Bullock. he told DCNF. “Yes, same blood. But this Robert Kennedy is rejected by most of his family, most of his brothers too. They look at him as a bit of a freak, a black sheep. It is inconsistent with his conspiracy theories about vaccination.”
Some members of Kennedy’s family were critical of his candidacy when he first ran for president. challenged with biden later When I left the Democratic Party. Biden gathered with a large group of Kennedy’s family members on St. Patrick’s Day, where he posed for photos with them. share With X.
The DNC has assembled a team to fight against the Kennedy campaign and other third-party candidates, as well as a group of lawyers to control candidates’ access to ballots. In February, the DNC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the super PAC American Values 2024 for helping Kennedy collect ballot signatures.
Scott Jennings, a veteran Republican strategist and campaign veteran, said Democrats need to panic if they don’t know that Kennedy is hurting their own people even more than he is hurting Trump. No,” he claimed.
“Kennedy is a first-class weirdo, and there are a lot of weirdos in the Democratic Party who aren’t happy with Biden. So if we give them a third weird door and let them get through, they might do it.” “I can’t do it,” Jennings told DCNF. “I tend to think that Trump’s supporters will stick with him until the end, so I think a third-party candidate has a slightly better chance of hurting Biden.”
Some caution that Mr. Kennedy’s impact on the ticket won’t be clear until too far from the election, especially given the hurdles to voting access faced by independents.
“I think the data is somewhat fuzzy regarding Kennedy’s actual impact, especially since other nominees typically include Cornel West and Jill Stein, but not the Libertarians nominated (and There will be a Libertarian candidate, maybe even one (Kennedy),” Kyle Kondik, a nonpartisan polling analyst and editor-in-chief of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, told DCNF. “It is also not clear whether Mr. Kennedy will be on the ballot in every key state. Moreover, third-party candidates often poll better than their own performance. I think it’s very difficult to judge Kennedy’s ultimate impact on the election at this early stage.”
Mike McKenna, a Republican political consultant and president of MWR Strategies, echoed some of Kondik’s sentiments, telling DCNF, “I don’t know where this story is going to go.”
“He (like Jill Stein) seems to be getting more votes from Biden than Trump, that’s clear,” McKenna said. “The real question is whether he can become organized enough to get enough state votes to bring about change. We don’t know yet about that.”
Kennedy is on the ballot in Utah and has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in New Hampshire. Now independent, he has the help of an aligned super PAC. It is approaching Access to voting in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and South Carolina.
campaign announced On March 5, he announced he had collected the necessary number of signatures to get a ticket in Nevada, but he may have to do so. Reboot He didn’t have a running mate yet, so the process, according to Go to CBS News. Many other states require candidates to list their vice president when trying to gain access to ballots, and Mr. Kennedy on Tuesday asked Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan to list his vice president. Announced as a candidate.
Kennedy’s press secretary, Stephanie Speer, told DCNF in a statement that the campaign is “confident that we can rein in the DNC’s efforts.”
“We launched a robust voting access plan to ensure the Kennedy/Shanahan ticket is on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” Spear said. “Now that we have announced our running mate, Nicole Shanahan, our campaign is actively collecting signatures in 36 states. , ready to get the job done.”
Trump and his campaign have recently attack The aim is to portray Kennedy as a left-wing candidate rather than an independent.
“RFK Jr. is a radical leftist, an environmental activist who loves EV mandates and wants to eliminate gasoline engines. He is not an independent,” Trump campaign communications director Stephen Chan said in a statement to DCNF. told. “RFK Jr. is an AOC enthusiast who is really against human progress and would prefer we all live in caves by candlelight, but of course, just like his presidential campaign “Supporting a charging station for your $150,000 electric car that can only go a few miles before dying is an exception.”
The Biden campaign and the DNC did not respond to DCNF’s requests for comment.
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