DeSantis says he would do better than Trump against RFK Jr.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) predicted Tuesday he would fare better against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign in a general election scenario, as opposed to former President Donald Trump, who was shown to lose support to him in a recent measure.

During a New Hampshire campaign stop, DeSantis told voters there is “another wrinkle now with RFK Jr. as a third party.”

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“RFK Jr. will be a vessel for anti-lockdown and anti-[Dr. Anthony Fauci] voters if Trump is the nominee,” he said.

But, he explained, “If I’m the nominee, they all go to me because I stood up against Fauci. I’m going to clean out the CDC and all of those. It’s a big part of my platform.”

In a recent poll from USA Today/Suffolk University, Trump tied with President Joe Biden, with each receiving 37%. The tie was due, in part, to Kennedy’s independent bid drawing double the amount of Republican voters as Democrats. Kennedy garnered 13% in the survey. If he were not in the mix, Trump would have bested Biden, 41% to 39%.

Voters who are critical of Trump’s COVID-19 policies are the ones who would ditch him in favor of Kennedy, according to DeSantis. “He created Fauci. He elevated Fauci. He never fired him. He said that he did everything right during COVID, claims he saved 100 million lives with the mRNA vaccine and all this stuff,” the Florida Republican said.

“I think those voters — who are understandably still very frustrated with how this federal government handled COVID and the lies that were told and all the mistakes that were made with no accountability — they’re gonna want a vessel for that, and I think they may default to Kennedy,” he warned.

“I will be the vessel for people that want accountability for COVID,” DeSantis told voters.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Ron DeSantis is a dumba** to have that type of uninformed take.”

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Kennedy was initially running for the Democratic Party’s nomination against Biden but switched his campaign to an independent bid. Many had speculated which party his unique candidacy would draw from, and if the new poll is any indication, it will hurt the Republican presidential candidate more than the Democratic nominee.

Biden does face an expected independent competitor to his left in progressive activist Cornel West. However, West hasn’t managed to garner the same support as Kennedy and thus isn’t harming Biden as significantly.