Former President Donald Trump, his allies and the Democratic National Committee have been stepping up their attacks in recent days against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It’s unlikely the Trump or Biden campaigns are worried about finishing behind Kennedy in November’s general election. But with the possibility looming that Kennedy could swing the election by siphoning votes from the top candidates, both Republican and Democratic strategists have been trying to paint Kennedy as being at odds with their own parties’ values.

On his Truth Social platform last weekend, Trump called Kennedy a “Democrat ‘Plant’” who is running to help Biden. 

“A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him,” Trump wrote. 

Two days later, also on Truth Social, Trump said Kennedy is “far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat” and that “No Republican can vote for this guy.”

The Trump campaign on Thursday released a video resurfacing past Kennedy positions such as saying voter ID laws are racist, calling the National Rifle Association “a terror group,” praising the Green New Deal -- a climate proposal put forth by progressives that is a frequent target of conservatives -- and supporting Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president.

Make America Great Again Inc., a pro-Trump Super PAC, has also been trying to remind voters about Kennedy’s past views, including him saying in a 2005 speech that “red state people are more likely to murder you, to impregnate your teenage daughter, to commit a violent crime against you … to buy pornography, to buy, you know, degenerate video games like ‘Grand Theft Auto.’" The comments were also featured in the Trump campaign video.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hates you,” MAGA Inc. wrote in an email this week.

Last month, MAGA Inc. launched a website, RadicalF-ingKennedy.com, that also highlights Kennedy’s past positions. 

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee has been trying to portray Kennedy as a spoiler candidate working on behalf of Trump. This week, the party rolled out a mobile video billboard in New York that played “I’ll Be There For You,” the theme song from “Friends,” and showing a doctored image of Kennedy wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat along with a headline noting that billionaire Timothy Mellon is the biggest donor to both MAGA Inc. and a pro-Kennedy super PAC.

“RFK Jr. was recruited to run by MAGA Republicans, his candidacy is being propped up by Trump’s largest donor, and a campaign staffer recently admitted that the campaign's top goal is stopping President Biden,” DNC spokesperson Matt Corridoni said in a statement. 

On Thursday, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison attacked Kennedy for working with the American Independent Party to gain ballot access in California. Harrison complained the party was “founded on a segregationist platform that in recent years pushed the ‘Birther’ lie and whose recent chair claimed that Black students are genetically inferior to white students.”

“Just like Donald Trump, RFK Jr. is actively embracing an opportunity to associate with racist conspiracy theorists,” Harrison charged. “This is a new low even for him in his quest to be a spoiler in this race.”

The Biden campaign itself has said little about Kennedy, although, notably, it held an event last month in which several members of RFK Jr.’s family endorsed Biden.

There is certainly fodder for both sides to attack Kennedy as being hostile to their parties’ views.

For Republicans, Kennedy -- the son of former U.S. Attorney General and New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy -- has a last name that is synonymous with the Democratic Party. Kennedy initally entered the race as a Democrat and has decades of liberal-leaning views.

But Democrats have noted that Kennedy has recently voiced some opinions more in line with Republican voters, including expressing skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines, downplaying the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and saying he’d support a 15-week federal abortion ban.

It’s not clear which major candidate Kennedy might hurt more in the general election. 

New polls this week by Emerson College and The Hill found Trump faring slightly better than Biden in seven key battleground states when voters were also given Kennedy as a choice. A national NBC News survey last month found that Kennedy was hurting Trump more than Biden. And according to a Economist/YouGov poll this week, Kennedy is drawing as much support among Republicans as Democrats (2% each). 

The Kennedy campaign said in an email to Spectrum News on Friday, "Such attacks are to be expected as we get on the ballot in more and more states and the other candidates realize this is a three-man race."

On Wednesday, Kennedy sought to flip the script by suggesting Biden is the spoiler candidate in the race. His campaign pointed to a John Zogby Strategies poll last month that found Biden would lose the election in a head-to-head race with Trump but that Kennedy would beat Trump.

Kennedy challenged Biden to sign a “No Spoiler Pledge” in which their campaigns would fund a 50-state poll to determine who might fare better against Trump and the loser would then step aside. 

"If I remain in the race and the election were held today, President Trump would win and President Biden would lose,” Kennedy said. "If I got out of the race, Trump would win by much more. So the people who believe I'm spoiling for President Biden need to look at data."

According to FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average, Trump is polling at 41.5%, Biden at 40.8% and Kennedy at 9.8%.