MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are a “very, very, very big deal” for President Biden’s reelection campaign. “It’s a problem,” he said.
“If you look at RFK Jr., it’s a name recognition issue,” Psaki said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” adding that Kennedy’s name is being used in Georgia, a key battleground state in the rematch between Biden and former President Trump. He pointed out that he was especially loved.
Psaki said the large number of votes “may just be a little-known fact that he’s an anti-vaxxer and a conspiracy theorist.” And she noted that the Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee are working to amplify that message.
“But it needs to be done far and wide, and people need to shout it from the rooftops, because this is one of the biggest threats to Joe Biden’s reelection: these third-party candidates. ” she said.
Mr. Kennedy, an independent, currently ranks at 10.8% nationally, about 30 points below Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, according to The Hill/Decision Desk Headquarters polling average. Trump’s current approval rating is 41.1%, while Biden’s is 38.6%.
If Kennedy has no choice, the race will be even closer, with Trump at 44.6% and Biden at 43.6%.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, resigned from the Children’s Health Defense Group, the nation’s most well-funded anti-vaccination group, to run for president.
In 2019, three of Mr. Kennedy’s relatives wrote an op-ed denouncing his anti-vaccine claims, calling them “wrong” and “dangerous.”
Many of the Kennedy family members have publicly supported Biden in 2024. Reportedly planning to step up These efforts began with the family’s visit to the White House last week.
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