NEW YORK—Prompted by the results of a new national poll that showed he is the only candidate who can defeat former President Donald Trump in November, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
If President Biden does not step aside, Mr. Kennedy challenged him to sign a “no-spoiler pledge.”
Under the pledge, the Democratic National Committee and the Kennedy campaign would agree to co-fund a 50-state poll with 30,000 or more likely voters in mid-October.
“The survey will test the results of a head-to-head race pitting President Biden against President Trump, and a second head-to-head race pitting me against President Trump. Whomever performs weakest against President Trump in a two-man contest will drop out of the presidential race,” Mr. Kennedy said at a press conference in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on May 1.
Mr. Kennedy also invited President Trump to sign the same no-spoiler pledge.
Poll Supports Kennedy’s Claim
Before encouraging Presidents Biden and Trump to take part in the no-spoiler pledge, the Kennedy campaign announced the results of a poll conducted by Zogby Strategies.
The survey included 26,408 respondents from 50 states polled between April 13 and April 21, and featured a 0.6 percent margin of error.
President Trump would decisively beat President Biden in a head-to-head race in Electoral College votes with a tally of 294–244, according to the poll.
In a race between Mr. Kennedy and President Biden, the challenger wins in a landslide of 367–171, the survey indicates.
If President Biden drops out and leaves Mr. Kennedy as the main challenger for President Trump, Mr. Kennedy narrowly tops the former president, 270–268.
In recent months, the DNC and pro-Biden groups have called Mr. Kennedy a “spoiler” and have urged him to drop out to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House.
The Zogby Strategies poll shows that President Biden, and not Mr. Kennedy, is the “true spoiler,” Mr. Kennedy said on May 1.
“To be a spoiler, a candidate has to fulfill two requirements. They must not be able to win themselves, and by participating in the election, they must prevent someone else from winning who otherwise would,” Mr. Kennedy said.
“By that criterion, President Biden is the only spoiler in the race. He is the one who cannot win against either candidate and whose presence gives Trump the victory instead of me,” Mr. Kennedy added.
Amaryllis Kennedy, who is Mr. Kennedy’s campaign director and daughter-in-law, noted that the Zogby Strategies poll is distinct because “it is a 50-state poll and there are respondents across every state with enough coverage in every state to actually allocate the electoral votes as if the election happened.”
Mr. Kennedy indicated that a poll with this depth typically costs around $200,000 to $500,000 and gives a clear picture of who can win and who cannot.
Ms. Kennedy referenced a recent survey showing that 86 percent of Americans believe President Biden is too old to seek reelection.
“It’s not a disrespectful thing to say or consider,” she said. “He has given decades of public service to the country.”
It’s fair to ask that a person who must make a decision on whether to return fire in a nuclear emergency “should be someone I couldn’t leave to babysit my 2-year-old if I went to the movies,” Ms. Kennedy added.
Kennedy’s Battle for Ballot Access
In April 2023, Mr. Kennedy announced he would challenge President Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party nomination. Claiming that the DNC was “rigging the primary” to favor President Biden and prevent opponents from running, he declared in October that he would run as an independent.Since then, the DNC and pro-Biden groups have directed significant resources to thwarting Mr. Kennedy’s bid to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Earlier this year, they formed a group to address Mr. Kennedy and third-party challengers such as independent Cornel West and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
The DNC and pro-Biden groups “are doing everything they can to keep me off the ballot and prevent Americans from having another choice in November,” Mr. Kennedy said during his May 1 speech. “Our campaign has a grassroots movement in all 50 states and I intend to win.”
Americans who vote for President Trump or President Biden will get “more of the same” if either win in November, Mr. Kennedy explained.
The two “differ on culture war issues like abortion, guns, and the border” which “are important issues, but neither is talking about issues like the debt, which is $34 trillion.”
“The service on that debt is more than our military spending. In five years, 50 cents out of every dollar collected and taxes are gonna go to servicing the debt.
“President Trump and President Biden ran up the debt together in just four years each. They ran more spending than all the previous presidents going back to George Washington,” Mr. Kennedy explained.
Mr. Kennedy said that he believes his campaign already has enough signatures to qualify for the New York ballot. New York law requires independents to submit at least 45,000 valid signatures in 45 days.
The Kennedy campaign will continue to gather signatures until it surpasses 90,000, he said.
Mr. Kennedy is officially on the ballot in Michigan and Utah. His campaign said he has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Nevada, and Texas.
