The Kennedy campaign has just put the Biden campaign on defense with a straightforward challenge.
Kennedy challenged Biden to a ‘no-spoiler’ pledge, vowing that the loser of the poll suspend their campaign.
Talking Points…
- Kennedy gaining ground
- Kennedy challenges Biden
- Analysis
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. realized that he would not get a fair shake from the Democrat Party running against Joe Biden, he decided to go third-party to remain in the race and be able to run in the general election. Slowly but surely, Kennedy is gathering the needed signatures to be added to every state ballot in the country, and this has Democrats very nervous.
Most polls have shown that Kennedy is a more significant threat to Biden than Trump, and he seems to be gaining ground with every new poll. When this campaign started, Kennedy was polling in single digits, but he is now around 16%, which is huge for a third-party candidate. While Biden is still doubling Kennedy’s numbers, the war between Israel and Hamas is taking a toll on Biden, as is Biden’s support among minorities.
Kennedy is no fool. He knows his best chance of winning this election is to steal votes away from Biden, so he is now targeting Gen Z voters and campaigning heavily to grab as much of the minority vote as he can. Even so, he is not yet to the point that he will overtake Biden, which made his latest challenge a bit surprising.
Kennedy is tired of the Biden campaign referring to him as the “spoiler” in this election, so he is now challenging Biden to settle the issue. This week, Kennedy argued that it is he who can beat Trump head’s up, not Biden, and he is willing to put his money where his mouth is to back up that claim. Kennedy wants Biden to join him in a no-spoiler pledge to decide who will step down in the race. Kennedy wants a nationwide poll large enough to erase any margin of error to determine who will take on Trump in November. Kennedy stated:
"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 then explained the pledge, stating that both campaigns would:
"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."
While the Biden campaign did not respond to the challenge, the DNC did, claiming, without a shred of evidence, that Kennedy:
"Is a spoiler - recruited by the MAGA GOP and propped by Trump's largest donor. His VEEP-like performance today does nothing to dispel that notion - it only reinforces how deeply unserious his campaign is."
I assure you, MAGA is not behind Kennedy because Trump is just as worried about Kennedy as Biden is. Although Kennedy impacts Biden more, the numbers are not too far off, as only about 2% of votes favor Trump with Kennedy in the race, and that could turn on a whim if Trump does or says the wrong thing.
There is no way that Biden will ever agree to this because he would be terrified that Kennedy would actually beat him in this poll. Having said that, I love the idea behind it because Kennedy gave Biden an out to remove him from the race, but Biden will not take him up on it. Just remember this if Trump wins and Biden and Democrats claim election interference on the part of Kennedy and MAGA as the reason why.
