Pollster Nate Silver said on Wednesday that Democrats likely erred by hampering independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign because his candidacy likely hurts the Republican nominee more.
Kennedy is currently polling at 5% nationally, while Vice President Kamala Harris is the front runner over former President Donald Trump at 46.2% and 43.5% respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight. Silver, on “Dan Abrams Live,” noted Kennedy’s “margin has shrunk” since Harris joined the race and that his polling data reflects the independent candidate taking “more votes from Trump than from Harris” because he’s “anti-establishment.”
WATCH:
Prominent Pollster Says Dems ‘Probably’ Made ‘Mistake’ By Going After RFK Jr As He ‘Now Takes More Votes From Trump’ pic.twitter.com/zWt19LGecQ
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 15, 2024
“As best as we can tell, and we crunch all these numbers, RFK now takes more votes from Trump than from Harris. I mean, he’s anti-vax, he’s anti-establishment, and that’s overcoming the Kennedy name and that brand,” Silver said. “So, you know, Democrats, for example, wanted him off the ballot here in states like New York. That lawsuit’s been successful for now. That’s probably a mistake. They’d rather have RFK draining anti-establishment votes from Trump.”
New York Judge Christina L. Ryba ruled Monday that Kennedy cannot be on the New York ballot in November following a revelation that he listed a false address on his nominating petition.
President Joe Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and other entities launched initiatives to counter Kennedy’s campaign out of concerns he would strip more support from Biden’s base than Trump’s. These efforts included communications strategies and ballot access challenges.
Kennedy reportedly attempted to meet with Harris about a potential job in her administration in exchange for his endorsement ahead of the November election, according to The Washington Post. The independent candidate said in a Thursday X post that he does not intend to endorse her, asserting the current Democratic Party’s ideology is incompatible with that of his uncle and father, former President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
“VP Harris’s Democratic Party would be unrecognizable to my father and uncle and I cannot reconcile it with my values,” he wrote. “The Democratic Party of RFK and JFK was the party of civil liberties and free speech. VP Harris’s is the party of censorship, lockdowns, and medical coercion. Kennedy Democrats were anti-war. Kamala’s is riddled with neocon warmongers. The RFK/JFK dems were allies of Main Street, cops, firefighters, and working people. VP Harris’s is the Party of Big Tech, Big Pharma and Wall Street.”
Kennedy also reportedly met with Trump in mid-July to talk about exchanging an endorsement for a position advising the former president on health policy, but the meeting did not result in any job offer or endorsement. Trump campaign advisers told the Post they are still in contact with Kennedy and his campaign.
The independent candidate is not currently planning to withdraw from the race, but his advisers said he is contemplating dropping out if he finds another way to bring change to the nation, according to the Post.
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