While spotlight is on Biden-Trump, independents out to affect outcome of US presidential election

IT IS highly unlikely that an independent can win the keys to the White House at next year’s presidential elections, but the signs are there that such a third-party candidate will claim a substantial number of votes that could affect the final outcome of the contest.

Back in 1992, Republican George H W Bush suffered a shock defeat to fresh-faced Democrat Bill Clinton, arguably because billionaire Ross Perot – who ran as an independent – lured millions of conservative business-minded voters from Bush, taking almost 20 per cent of the popular vote.

According to the latest poll by the FiveThirtyEight website, Robert F Kennedy Jr is drawing anywhere between 9 per cent and 13 per cent of the popular vote in a theoretical matchup against the incumbent Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.