Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on President Biden to take a “no-spoiler” pledge with him that, if accepted, would lead to one of the two men dropping out of the presidential race in mid-October.
Mr. Kennedy’s pledge would include a 50-state poll co-funded by Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Biden in mid-October with more than 30,000 likely voters. The survey would test the results of head-to-head matchups between Mr. Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and between Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Trump.
Both parties would pledge that whoever performs weaker head-to-head against Mr. Trump would then drop out of the race.
“Ultimately, I think what we all want in this election is that, for Americans not to feel like they have to vote out of fear, that they feel they can vote out of hope,” Mr. Kennedy said at an event in New York City on Wednesday.
“That is only going to happen if there is a two-way race between me and President Trump or me and President Biden,” he said.
The Biden campaign did not immediately return an email from The Washington Times seeking comment on the proposal.
Mr. Kennedy said he would be “happy” to make the same pledge with Mr. Trump, but it would be pointless since the polls show that the former president “can actually win.”
“People who are voting for President Trump because they’re frightened of President Biden should be supporting me, and vice versa,” he said.
Mr. Kennedy initially entered the race as a Democrat before making the switch to independent. In March, he announced that Nicole Shanahan, a tech attorney and entrepreneur, would be his running mate.
“If you picture what this country is going to look like in November if either President Trump or President Biden won, the division is going to continue, the anger, the vitriol, the chaos, the polarization is going to worsen,” he said. “The only way to end that is through my successful candidacy.”
The Kennedy campaign has been pushing to get him on the ballot, and so far has succeeded in Utah, Michigan and California. The campaign has said it collected enough signatures for ballot access in New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa.
Mr. Kennedy has been fighting claims that he would take votes away from Mr. Biden, which would leave Mr. Trump to be the winner in November.
Recently, Mr. Trump has started attacking Mr. Kennedy. He took to Truth Social late last month to call him a “Democrat Plant.”
“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘Plant.’ a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” Mr. Trump said.
“A vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him,” he said.
In response, Mr. Kennedy called on the former president to join him on a debate stage.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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