Jesse Ventura claims he could beat Biden, Trump in hypothetical match-up
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) said he could beat both President Biden and former President Trump in a hypothetical match-up Thursday.
“If I had ballot access in all 50 states and I were allowed to debate, I could beat these two major party candidates,” Ventura said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
Burnett and Ventura were discussing Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy on her show. Kennedy, who is seen as a "spoiler" candidate who could tilt the race toward one of the major candidates by supporters of both Biden and Trump, is currently at 6.9 percent support in a national polling average by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ. He is far behind both Trump and Biden in the polling average, who are at 42.4 and 41.6 percent support, respectively.
Ventura also pushed back against the idea of “spoilers” in his CNN appearance, stating that “third parties are not ‘spoilers.’”
“When you go to vote and do your civic duty, you vote for the candidate or the person that you most wanna … to be the president of the United States, irregardless of their party,” Ventura said. “If you go vote for the person you want as president, then you've done your civic duty.”
“Where do we get off calling it ‘spoiler,’ because you don't vote Democrat or Republican?” Ventura continued.
Kennedy was previously reportedly to be considering Ventura as his vice-presidential pick, but he eventually went with attorney Nicole Shanahan. He said at the event where he announced Shanahan as his pick that she is a daughter of immigrants “who overcame every daunting obstacle and went on to achieve the highest levels of the American dream.”
“That is why I’m so proud to introduce to you, the next vice president of the United States, my fellow lawyer, a brilliant scientist, technologist, a fierce warrior-mom, Nicole Shanahan,” Kennedy said.