00:00So far, one big question posed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s third-party campaign for the presidency has been,
00:06which major party candidate would he hurt more?
00:08New polls suggest an answer.
00:10Donald Trump.
00:11The polls from NBC News and Marist College show President Biden benefiting against Trump
00:16when the potential field is expanded from a head-to-head matchup to a multi-candidate field.
00:20Jill Stein and Cornel West were included in that potential field as well.
00:24NBC has Trump ahead 46% to 44% in a head-to-head,
00:28and Biden ahead 39% to 37% with other candidates in the mix.
00:32Marist has Biden ahead either way, 51% to 48% head-to-head, 43% to 38% in a larger field.
00:38Many originally considered Kennedy a threat to Biden due to his family name
00:42and his previous affiliation as a Democrat.
00:44But his campaign's anti-establishment positioning,
00:46which includes controversial skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccines,
00:50has shown appeal to potential Trump voters as well.
00:52Politico reported in November that Kennedy had received more large-dollar donations
00:56from Republican-leaning donors than those on the Democratic side,
00:59though it's hard to know if that's because they genuinely supported him
01:02or wanted to use him as a cat's paw against Biden.
01:05Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett now tells Politico,
01:08Kennedy was introduced, supported, and certainly propped up by the right
01:11thinking he would be a torpedo to Biden in a primary.
01:14That torpedo may be turning into a bit of a boomerang.
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