Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been repeatedly called the spoiler in the 2024 presidential election, thinks he’s the only obvious choice for voters. In his mind, there is only one obstacle in his way: the incumbent president Joe Biden. Calling Biden the true spoiler, he is proposing an audacious plan.
On Wednesday RFK, Jr., whose run for the presidency has been repeatedly called a vanity campaign, made a bold proposition: Joe Biden should drop out of the race so that Kennedy can go head-to-head with Trump. Kennedy is sure that in that scenario he would beat Trump handily.
As one pundit commented about the plan: “Just imagine the absurd sense of entitlement it takes for Kennedy…to suggest that an incumbent president should get out of his way.”
The factors that the pundit cited as proof that RFK is delusional are these: Biden has way more money than Kennedy (or Trump) to fund his campaign. He’s an incumbent president who won the electoral college in 2020 by defeating Trump. And he is polling much, much stronger than Kennedy, who barely registers any support compared to the two “big boys”.
The plan that Kennedy proposed: Biden and Kennedy would co-fund a 50-state poll in mid-October of at least 30,000 likely voters, surveying the race in one-to-one matchups, Biden versus Trump and Kennedy versus Trump. The candidate who performs better against Trump stays in the race while the other drops out.
Kennedy justified this plan by claiming that a 50-state poll conducted last month by John Zogby Strategies found Biden losing to Trump in a rematch, and Kennedy beating them both in head-to-head races. The poll queried only 26,408 likely voters out of a population of roughly 330 million.
For reference, an average of polls compiled from January to April by RealClearPolitics shows Trump leading Biden in a three-way race, 41.7% to 36.3%, with Kennedy lagging far behind at 10.7%.
It is worth noting that Kennedy’s own family, mindful of the historic legacy started by President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., has lambasted RFK, Jr. for his campaign and they have repeatedly called for him to drop out of the race. The Kennedy family fear that RFK’s far-right ideas and endless conspiracy theories will destroy that legacy.
The “clan” have publicly endorsed President Joe Biden—taking a group picture with him to reinforce their support– expressing concerns that RFK Jr.’s candidacy could fragment the vote and potentially harm Biden’s re-election chances. Notably, JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, has been most critical of his cousin’s campaign, emphasizing the importance of the family’s history of public service and expressing support for Biden’s track record on key issues such as the economy, healthcare, and civil rights.
On Wednesday, Kennedy used his event to blur the political lines between Biden and Trump although simultaneously and incongruously, citing key differences between them about abortion, guns, border security and transgender issues. However, rather than acknowledging how crucial some of these issues are—especially abortion and immigration–he minimized their importance as mere “culture war issues.”
To Kennedy, “abortion is a throw-away line in a long speech about spoilers.”
Trump and Biden don’t share many views, but the one thing they agree on is that Kennedy is the spoiler and have been trying to push him to the margins for months. At first Trump thought that Kennedy would be taking votes away from Biden and was supportive of his candidacy, even calling him “a commonsense guy”. But that changed when it became clear that some GOP voters and donors may be shifting their loyalty to Kennedy. Conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon, one of Trump’s biggest donors, gave $20 million to a super PAC backing Kennedy.
A Florida Atlantic University Poll released Tuesday suggested that Biden benefits from Kennedy being on the ballot as the former Democrat saps support from Trump.
This failure to understand the dynamics driving the current support for the respective candidates—and the weight voters are giving to major issues– is another indication of how out of touch with reality Kennedy is.
