Trump Attacks RFK Jr. As ‘More Liberal’ Than Other Candidates

Top line

Former President Donald Trump attacked independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday as a “Radical Left Lunatic” who is “far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat,” as both candidates hope to align Kennedy with the other ahead of the November elections.

Former President Donald Trump’s attack on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. comes as CNN released a new poll … [+] showing the third-party candidate drew support from 13% of both Biden’s and Trump’s supporters.

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Key Facts

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday, Trump said he watched Kennedy Jr. on “Real Time With Bill Maher” and found Kennedy “far more LIBERAL than Maher” and other Democratic candidates, but has “no hope” because the Democrats “threw him out of the Party” for taking primary votes from Biden.

Trump also went after Kennedy Friday night, saying in a series of posts on Truth Social he is a “plant” from the left to help Biden get re-elected, adding a vote for Kennedy Jr. would be “a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way.”

Republicans and Democrats are both concerned Kennedy will take votes from their party’s candidate in a race so closely contested that any voter loss could sway the election outcome.

An April 21 poll found Kennedy Jr. was more of a threat to Trump than Biden, with 15% of voters who would initially cast their ballots for Trump in a two-way race would switch to Kennedy Jr. in a five-way race, while only 7% of Biden voters would switch—marking a switch from past months in which polls had shown Kennedy Jr. hurting Biden more than Trump.

But a new poll released Sunday from CNN showed Kennedy drew 13% from both Biden and Trump supporters.

The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, has Trump maintaining an edge over Biden in a head-to-head race, 49% to 43%.

Surprising Fact

In one of Friday’s posts, Trump said he would “even take Biden over Junior” [sic]because our Country would last a year or two longer prior to collapse – But it would be dead either way.”

Chief Critic

https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1784267700304335087, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday to defend himself, saying “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.” He challenged Trump to “defend his record to me mano-a-mano by respectful, congenial debate” rather than “lobbing poisonous bombs from the safety of his bunker.” Kennedy also criticized Trump’s time in office, saying he “betrayed the hopes” of his followers by not ending the Ukraine war, running up debt and “torpedo(ing) the Constitution.”

Tangent

Third-party candidates have played spoiler in recent history, many believe: Many Democrats blame Green Party candidate Jill Stein for Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016. Although Stein didn’t get any electoral college votes, she received enough support in key battleground states like Florida and Michigan that could have meant the margin of victory for Clinton, who then may have scored the electoral votes she needed to defeat Trump. Similarly, in 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is widely blamed for taking away enough votes that would have made Democratic candidate Al Gore president, and not George W. Bush.

Key Background

November’s presidential election is shaping up to be a tight race, with polls showing Trump leading Biden by 0.7 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics’ polling average. The narrow lead is seemingly increasing concern among political advisers on both sides that support for third-party candidates could take a victory from either Trump or Biden. Kennedy has so far only secured a spot on the ballot in a select number of states and third-party candidates Stein and Cornel West well behind, with West polling at 4% and Stein at 3% in CNN’s latest poll. While Biden and Democrats initially seemed more concerned about Kennedy taking support from their side, Trump’s recent attacks against Kennedy mark a shift in the Republican mindset, potentially indicating their concern is growing. Beyond the CNN poll, a survey released last week from Quinnipiac University found Kennedy’s supporters were more likely to support Trump in a two-way race, and a poll from NBC News also showed Biden performing better in a race including Kennedy.