{"id":17489,"date":"2024-04-01T12:46:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T12:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/01\/republicans-and-democrats-panic-to-quickly-define-spoiler-candidate-rfk-jr\/"},"modified":"2024-04-01T12:46:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T12:46:15","slug":"republicans-and-democrats-panic-to-quickly-define-spoiler-candidate-rfk-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/01\/republicans-and-democrats-panic-to-quickly-define-spoiler-candidate-rfk-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans and Democrats panic to quickly define \u2018spoiler\u2019 candidate RFK Jr"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Democrats and Republicans alike are scrambling to define Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s independent presidential bid and ascribe his views to the other ideological side before he is able to introduce himself to the 2024 electorate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The only thing they know is that he\u2019s Robert Kennedy\u2019s son,\u2019 said Allan Lichtman, a historian and distinguished professor of history at American University.<\/p>\n

As Kennedy focuses on gaining ballot access, his election travel looks much different than that of former President Trump or President Biden, who are primarily campaigning in critical battleground states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite this advantage, both parties are still looking to undermine Kennedy\u2019s outside attempt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump took to his Truth Social to slam Kennedy on Wednesday, calling him \u2018the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Democratic National Committee has claimed that Kennedy is \u2018a Trump stalking horse\u2019 in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the DNC established a staff devoted specifically to addressing third-party competitors. According to spokesperson Matt Corridoni, the decision to take on outside presidential bids was born out of not taking anything for granted.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think a lot of his support is simply based on the name, not on any understanding of what RFK Jr. actually stands for,\u2019 Lichtman claimed, calling him a \u2018very ambiguous figure.\u2019<\/p>\n

One reason for his enigmatic status is that \u2018he seems to legitimately hold opinions that one can attribute to both the left and the right,\u2019 according to Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.<\/p>\n

For Russell Verney, who served as a top adviser to Ross Perot\u2019s famed 1992 independent presidential campaign, these efforts from each side were prompted by both parties\u2019 aversions to competition.<\/p>\n

If a voter chooses to support Kennedy on Election Day, Verney claimed many of them \u2018wouldn\u2019t have voted for Biden anyway.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff, it wouldn\u2019t be hard for Democrats \u2018to paint him like a Disney villain, the black sheep of a historic American family, who has this wild vendetta against the Democratic Party his family helped build.\u2019<\/p>\n

Republican strategists estimated a much larger threat presented to Biden, and one that isn\u2019t easily navigated. The combination of the president\u2019s \u2018fragile\u2019 support and the Kennedy name\u2019s Democratic legacy \u2018will cost a boatload of money and a smart plan\u2019 for Biden to combat, said GOP strategist Zack Roday.<\/p>\n

\u2018If I was in the Biden camp right now, I would be pulling the five-alarm fire,\u2019 added Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA.<\/p>\n

Others suggest that the threat presented by Kennedy is \u2018asymmetrical.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018There are expected to be a lot of \u2018double-haters\u2019 in this contest\u2019 unhappy with both Trump and Biden, added Kevin Madden, former senior adviser to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney\u2019s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kennedy press secretary Stefanie Spear claimed that the attacks from both sides were prompted by \u2018a genuine inability\u2019 to understand \u2018a candidate who does not fit into conventional political categories.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Our ticket represents the broad majority who have unsubscribed from the right-left paradigm,\u2019 she said of Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the campaign expressed confidence in its coalition, Lichtman said historically, \u2018the partisans come home\u2019 on Election Day.<\/p>\n

This is the result of \u2018wasted vote syndrome,\u2019 he explained. \u2018You know, \u2018We love you, Ross Perot, but you can\u2019t win, so I\u2019m not going to vote for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verney agreed that this syndrome is often what leads to a roughly 50% cut in voter percentage for independent candidates on Election Day compared to their previous stature in polling. According to the former Perot adviser, using the idea of a wasted vote is an incredibly effective strategy to undercut an independent bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacob Neiheisel, associate professor of political science at the State University of New York at Buffalo, also noted, \u2018There isn\u2019t a great deal of evidence that third-party candidates play such a role.\u2019 He added that third-party voters are more likely to sit out voting if their candidate isn\u2019t an option. \u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Bernard Tamas, an associate political science professor at Valdosta State University and author of \u2018The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties,\u2019 Kennedy\u2019s messaging is neither consistent nor cohesive, presenting a challenge to delivering voters come Election Day. \u2018The issues that he supports may galvanize certain voters early on,\u2019 he explained, but may put them off later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The image of Kennedy projected to voters will ultimately come down to which side employs the most effective communicators, according to Lichtman. And right now, Biden seems to have an advantage with figures like former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on his side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung reiterated Trump\u2019s claims about Kennedy, calling him a \u2018radical leftist.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Biden campaign did not provide comment and instead referred Fox News Digital to the DNC\u2019s third-party operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats and Republicans alike are scrambling to define Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s independent presidential bid and ascribe his views to the other ideological side before he is able to introduce himself to the 2024 electorate.\u00a0 \u2018The only thing they know is that he\u2019s Robert Kennedy\u2019s son,\u2019 said Allan Lichtman, a historian and distinguished professor of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}