(NewsNation) — As the race for the presidency continues, independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is drawing voters from both sides of the aisle, posing a potential threat to both other candidates.
Initially, Kennedy entered the race as a Democrat but switched to run as an independent. As he challenges both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, he has been attracting voters who aren’t looking for a repeat of 2020.
Pulling voters from both sides
Both campaigns are paying close attention to what Kennedy is doing as they fear him taking votes away from them, especially in critical swing states where the margin of victory can be small.
Earlier in the year, Trump supporters said they would consider supporting Kennedy if Trump didn’t get the GOP nomination because they felt he aligned with them more than other Republican primary challengers.
Other voters, including those on the left, expressed concerns over Biden’s age. The president has also been losing support among younger voters and voters of color over his handling of the war in Gaza.
Kennedy has gotten criticism for some of his more controversial positions, including his anti-vaccine stance and support for including unproven holistic and alternative therapies in medicine.
His views don’t align strictly with either party as he shows support for traditionally Democratic positions like support for gun control as well as Republican ones, like the construction of a border wall.
Trump, Biden continue to lead
As of now, Trump and Biden remain the frontrunners, with Trump polling at 41.6%, Biden at 41.1% and Kennedy at 7.2% based on averages from recent polls.
But as Kennedy continues his push to get on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., he’s hopeful he can have a real shot at the presidency.
He is also working to be included in the first of two presidential debates, set to take place on June 27. Kennedy said he is in discussions with the debate host, who say currently Trump and Biden are the only two candidates to meet the criteria.
Kennedy disagrees.
“There’s an FEC rule that says you can’t make a deal to keep one of the candidates off the stage,” he said at a rally in Denver, Colorado. “So I am confident that CNN will live up to its commitment to let everybody on that stage who qualifies for that criteria.”
The network has said that to participate, candidates must be on enough ballots to win 270 electoral votes and poll at at least 15% in four separate national polls that meet CNN’s standards for reporting by June 20.
Kennedy has called Biden a “spoiler” for his campaign and said that neither Trump nor Biden would unite the country.