RFK Jr fails to qualify for CNN presidential debate

Long-shot independent presidential candidate is polling in third place

Robert F Kennedy Jr has run his presidential campaign as an anti-establishment candidate. AFP

Independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has failed to qualify for the first US presidential debate, ensuring that only President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump will square off in Atlanta next week.

CNN, the network hosting the debate, announced on Thursday that the qualification window had closed with only “Biden and Trump meeting the constitutional, ballot qualification and polling thresholds set by the network".

Mr Kennedy did not meet the requirement that participants “had to appear on a sufficient number of state ballots” and “receive at least 15 per cent in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters".

It is a significant blow to the long-shot candidate. While he has no realistic way of winning the November election, his campaign has gained millions of supporters.

Third-party candidates could sway the results between Mr Biden and Trump, who are separated by razor-thin margins.

The Democratic and Republican candidates are effectively tied, the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll showed this week, with both receiving 49 per cent of support among registered voters nationally.

The same poll found Mr Kennedy was in third place with 11 per cent of support.

Mr Kennedy's campaign, meanwhile, raised $2.6 million in May and ended the month with $6.4 million cash on hand, a recent Federal Election Commission filing showed. Those are significantly lower numbers than the previous month.

Mr Kennedy, the nephew of former president John F Kennedy and son of former US attorney general and Democratic presidential contender Robert F Kennedy, has run his campaign as an anti-establishment candidate, including an anti-vaccine stance, despite his family's long-standing political history.

Trump's campaign said in a statement on Thursday that the former president would have “no problem debating RFK Jr and he believes any candidate who qualifies for the ballot should be allowed to make their case to America’s voters".