Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said third party candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are a “huge, huge problem” for President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
Psaki argued Kennedy is one of “biggest threats” for Biden given his “beloved” name recognition, and how many voters do not know about his anti-COVID vaccine rhetoric.
“But these third party candidates are a huge, huge, huge, huge problem and there’s a number of them,” Psaki said on “Morning Joe” Thursday. “If you look at RFK Jr, it’s the name recognition issue … And there are states in this country, obviously, I mean, Georgia is one of them I will name, where the Kennedy name is beloved. Where people may just not, still, may just not know a lot about the fact that he is an anti-vaxxer who is a conspiracy theorist. They may not know that yet.”
“So this is something, there is an aggressive effort, that the campaign has been working with the Democratic National Committee on to run on this. But this needs to be broad, people need to be shouting it from the rooftops, because this is one of the biggest threats to Joe Biden being re-elected, is these third party candidates,” she continued.
Kennedy has taken a huge chunk of favorability from Biden and former President Donald Trump, and did so against Biden when he ran as a Democrat. Kennedy switched his affiliation to independent in October. (RELATED: Van Jones Says RFK Jr.’s Swing-State Support Could Send ‘Shockwave Through The Democratic Party’)
A November 1 Quinnipiac University poll found Kennedy garnering 22% in a three-way matchup against Biden and Trump. Trump received 39% of support and Biden held 36%. He also beat both Biden and Trump among independent voters with 36%, while Trump garnered 31% and Biden had 30%.
Some Democrats blamed the Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, according to Politico.
Current polling between the three candidates shows Trump in the lead with 40.2%, with Biden not far behind with 38.%, according to The Hill. Kennedy currently holds 1o,2% support, the outlet reported.