Was a Biden worry….
Now the word is that has moved over to Donald Trump as a problem….
Signs are emerging in recent polling that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other third-party candidates could pose trouble for Donald Trump now that President Biden isn’t at the top of the ticket.
For months, polling predicting a three-way race with Trump, Biden and Kennedy showed mixed signs in terms of which of the major-party candidates was hurt more by the independent’s presence. But often the Democratic candidate was the one losing more support.
But that has notably shifted since Vice President Harris replaced Biden at the top of the ticket, with many polls showing her performing better when other candidates are included in the race.
“With the head-to-head of Biden-Trump, that head-to-head seemed to be pretty baked in, but the third party was a problem for the Democrats,” said Democratic strategist Jon Reinish. “That no longer — if the data is to be believed, and it looks credible — seems to be the case.”
Kennedy added an additional layer of uncertainty to the presidential race when he launched his independent bid for president last October after having briefly run for the Democratic nomination against Biden. .
…
“The power of Harris, that as bad as we perceived her to be as a vice president, as a candidate, she is far more acceptable to a lot of voters than Joe Biden,” said Republican strategist Jason Cabel Roe.
Roe noted that Harris may still be susceptible to third-party protest votes going to a candidate like independent Cornel West, who is running to the Democrats’ left. He said voters who are particularly upset with Harris’s position on the Israel-Hamas war could turn to a candidate like West, but she may be able to bring them in by showing more openness to their position.
But some questioned how much Kennedy will factor into the race in November. Roe said Kennedy might “shave off” a couple points in a state or two but not affect the big picture of the race.
“I think people like Ralph Nader and Jill Stein posed more of a risk than he does today,” he said. …