FILE – Colored coordinated Presidential Primary Election ballots are organized by political parties for voters on June 7, 2016, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Porterville, Calif. While the politics are murky, the fresh frenzy of outsider candidates threatens to weaken both major parties as President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump tighten their grip on their party’s presidential nominations. There’s little concern that the independent or third-party candidates would actually win the presidency, but they could siphon support from the ultimate Democratic and Republican nominees. (Chieko Hara/The Porterville Recorder via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Two political outsiders have taken steps to launch independent or third-party presidential bids over the past week. And the prospect of at least two more looms. Leaders in both major political parties acknowledge the rise of serious outsider candidates threatens to undermine the strength of Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2024 general election. Anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. is a scion of the Democratic dynasty but is expected to become the latest to launch an independent or third-party presidential bid Monday in Philadelphia. The rise of such outsider candidates in 2024 reflects the extraordinary unpopularity of both major parties, led by Joe Biden and Donald Trump.