Robert Kennedy Jr. had to hold a solo event on Thursday night as Donald Trump faced off against Joe Biden. However, more than half of independent voters thought he should have been allowed to join the top candidates on the debate stage.
RFK Jr. did not meet the criteria for the debate and did not meet the 15 percent polling threshold and access to state ballots required by CNN, which hosted the event.
But a JL Partners poll of 805 independent voters who followed the presidential election found that 55 percent thought he should have been on the podium.
Only 22 percent said he should not have been there.
The results will boost Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with an anti-vaccination message, who is running as an alternative to the two main candidates.
JL Partners asked 805 independent voters who followed the debate for their opinions.
But his absence from the debate stage is a huge setback for a candidate who needs cheap ways to reach as many voters as possible.
His campaign team filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing CNN and the two leading candidates of violating election law.
His supporters will find it ironic that Kennedy was excluded.
Biden struggled during Thursday’s debate, prompting panicked introspection among Democrats as they wondered whether he was still their best hope for preventing Trump from returning to power.
“While traditionally third-party candidates face pressure as Election Day approaches, the level of dissatisfaction with the two major candidates gives Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the room to make a significant impact,” said Joe Alder, senior research associate at JL Partners.
“As a measure of the need for an alternative, 55 percent of independents who watched the debate said RFK should have been there to participate. Only 22 percent disagreed.”
Kennedy, 70, said immediately afterward that the debate would have left most Americans “depressed.”
Poll after poll since the beginning, since last summer… shows that I am the only one who can beat President Trump,” he told News Nation.
“In a head-to-head match with President Trump, I defeated him, and in a head-to-head match with President Biden, I defeated him overwhelmingly.”
Robert Kennedy Jr. answered debate questions in real time at his own event in West Hollywood, California, on Thursday evening after being barred from the stage in Atlanta
The two leading candidates are the oldest in history. Trump is only three years younger than Biden, and neither has good ratings
Kennedy tried to stay relevant by responding in real time on Thursday to the same questions posed to Biden and Trump.
The CNN debate was shown on a giant screen behind Kennedy’s lectern on a stage in Los Angeles.
Biden and Trump remained silent for a moment as Kennedy answered questions about inflation, the response to COVID-19 and abortion.
“This is something that is important to our democracy because Americans feel the system is rigged,” he said in his opening statement.
“This is exactly the kind of convergence of state and corporate power that I am running against.”
The poll delivered a scathing verdict for Biden, whose performance was marked by a gravelly voice, meandering answers, non sequiturs and silences, while making him look 81 years old.
President Joe Biden had a torrid time on stage, sparking panic among Democrats who are questioning whether he should still be the party’s nominee in November
About 62 percent of those polled thought he should be removed from the Democratic ticket.
Trump, 78, was able to deliver his blows while his Democratic opponent struggled to refute his outlandish claims.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” he said after Biden delivered a verbiage about the border.
“I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
In doing so, he shifted the focus from convicted criminal Trump, who had to be asked three times whether he would accept the outcome of the 2024 elections, to Biden.
Some leading liberals said it was time for him to step aside.
“Guys, Democrats need to nominate someone else before it’s too late,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020.