BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Democrat turned independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is firing back against repeated claims that he's a spoiler in the 2024 election rematch between President Biden and former President Trump.
Kennedy on Wednesday once again argued that he, rather than Biden, is the only candidate who can defeat Trump in November – and showcased a new internal poll conducted by his campaign to make his point – as he announced a "no-spoiler pledge."
"This is a no-spoiler pledge that we’re announcing today. This is a pledge that I offer to take if President Biden also takes it," Kennedy said at a news conference where the candidate took no questions from reporters.
Kennedy said his pledge calls for him and Biden to "agree to co-fund in October a 50-state poll with 30,000 or more likely voters. This is essentially, effectively, a zero margin of error, in October of 2024. The survey will test the results of a head-to-head race pitting President Biden versus President Trump and a second head-to-head race pitting me against President Trump."
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Kennedy emphasized that "whoever performs weakest against President Trump in a two-man contest will drop out of the presidential race. This is a spoiler pledge."
The longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic, who is the scion of the nation's most storied political dynasty, added he's "happy to make the same pledge" with Trump. But he added that "Trump is not a spoiler because he can actually win."
Neither the Biden campaign nor the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which earlier this year brought on veteran communicators to target third-party and independent candidates, reacted to Kennedy's pledge.
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In making his announcement, Kennedy and his campaign manager – daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy – spotlighted a campaign-issued internal poll of over 26,000 respondents from all 50 states that they used to make their point that Kennedy, rather than Biden, has the better shot of defeating Trump in a two-candidate showdown in November.
"The people who think I’m spoiling it for Biden need to look at data," Kennedy argued.
Kennedy launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in April of last year, but in October the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent run for the White House.
The Biden campaign and the DNC have repeatedly slammed Kennedy as a potential spoiler whose supporters could hand Trump a presidential election victory in November.
"We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris re-elected. It's critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal," Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis emphasized in a recent conference call with reporters. "And let me be clear, that's exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He's a spoiler."
Plenty of pundits and pollsters are making the case that Kennedy also could pose a similar problem for Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
And as Kennedy's increased his appearances on conservative media the past couple of months, the former president and his campaign have increasingly characterized Kennedy, whose populism on some issues seems similar to Trump's, as a far-left politician.
Trump this past weekend repeatedly when on his Truth Social site to blast Kennedy, charging he was a "Democrat ‘Plant’" and "far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat." The former president argued that "A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE."
Kennedy fired back, saying in a social media post, "When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged,"
And, he claimed, "President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate."
Kennedy's goal is to get on the ballot in all 50 states, which is a costly and time-consuming venture for independent candidates.
Kennedy's campaign announced earlier this week he would be on the ballot in California, which has 54 electoral votes, the most of any state. Kennedy secured the nomination of the American Independent Party, a minor third party.
Kennedy's also on the ballot as an independent in Utah and in Hawaii through a newly formed political party. Two weeks ago, Kennedy also made the ballot in Michigan, a crucial general election battleground state, courtesy of another third party.
And his campaign said Kennedy has collected enough signatures to meet ballot access thresholds in the battlegrounds of North Carolina and Nevada, the swing state of New Hampshire, as well as Nebraska and Iowa.
