The wild card independent candidate has been a source of increasing anxiety for the GOP as he threatens to pull votes from Donald Trump in November.

By Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

04/27/2024 12:54 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump launched a social media tirade against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday night, saying a vote for the independent candidate would be a “wasted protest vote” and that he’d “even take Biden over Junior.”

The wild card independent, a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party for siphoning voters from President Joe Biden, has become a source of increasing anxiety for the GOP as he threatens to also pull votes away from Trump in November.

In a string of posts to his Truth Social platform, Trump called RFK Jr. a “Democrat ‘Plant’” strategically placed to help Biden’s reelection campaign, and sought to play up policy areas where Kennedy appears more left-leaning.

“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. 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. Junior’ is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet…”

While his policy platforms vary across the board, Kennedy, formerly an environmental lawyer, stands firmly to Biden’s left on some environmental policies, such as calling for a permanent ban on natural gas exports — though he has also criticized the president’s clean energy subsidies. Kennedy’s seemingly green policies, as well as his historically Democratic-aligned last name, have made him a perceived threat to Biden’s ability to consolidate the party’s vote in the 2024 election.

But as more recent polls show, Kennedy is drawing voters more evenly away from both candidates, putting the GOP — and Trump — increasingly on the offensive.

A Quinnipiac poll of registered voters released Wednesday shows support for Kennedy at 16 percent, with Trump and Biden deadlocked at 37 percent each and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West both receiving 3 percent support. According to the poll, more Republican voters find RFK Jr. favorable than Democrats — 44 percent of Republican voters expressed a favorable opinion of Kennedy, compared to just 11 percent of Democrats.

As November approaches, both candidates have sought to distance themselves from the renegade independent, with the Trump campaign decisively shutting down claims from RFK Jr. that the former president has approached him to join his presidential ticket.