2024 Candidates: Can Robert F Kennedy Jr. Challenge Biden For Dem Nomination?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
An Emerson College poll from April found 21% of Democrats support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Does he pose a threat to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign?
A Democratic Populist: Matt Lewis labeled Kennedy an “imbecile with no real qualifications” and deemed his past work as an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic to be “idiot activism.” Lewis compared Kennedy’s early polling to Donald Trump’s unexpected success in 2016 to state, “Trump has already taken over the GOP. What happens if the Democratic Party also falls to the siren call of the populist zeitgeist?”
“A Dream Deferred”: An opinion piece in Newsmax said Kennedy’s early polling numbers are a “symptom of the party's unease about Biden.” The article characterizes Kennedy as representative of a “dream deferred” for Irish Catholic Americans that overlaps with Biden’s central image, concluding that “The Kennedy name, Biden's weakness and the profound distrust millions of Americans feel toward institutions such as the CIA, the media and the pharmaceutical companies will make RFK Jr. formidable.”
“Four Grueling Years”: An opinion piece in Salon outlined potential factors leading to Kennedy’s support among Democrats. The article states his name recognition is “good enough to spot you a dozen polling points or so,” and cites polls showing a “supermajority of Americans” do not want Biden to run in 2024, determining, “Democrats shouldn’t underestimate the amount of work it’s going to take to prove to the country—to its own party’s voters—that Biden has another four grueling years in him.”
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RFK Jr. Why Biden Can't Hide Behind Kennedy Dream
Joe Biden is a nostalgia president.
He's a link to the Obama era, of course.
But he's also a living reminder of the days when Democrats were automatically the party of white ethnics, especially Irish Catholics.
For senior white voters in the Democratic coalition, the professed Catholic and Irish-ish Biden is an older, lesser Kennedy — but an heir to JFK nonetheless.
Only now Biden has to contend with a real Kennedy for next year's Democratic presidential nomination.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his bid not even two weeks ago and...
From the Center
RFK Jr. Was Always a Crackpot, He Just Switched Political Tribes
Don’t look now, but anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is polling close to 20 percent in some Democratic primary surveys.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll published on April 19 had him at 14 percent, with New Age guru Marianne Williamson garnering 5 percent support. Since then, a more recent Emerson College poll has him at 21 percent, while Williamson is at 8 percent. And a Fox News poll has him at 19 percent, with Williamson at 9 percent.
While it seems highly unlikely that Kennedy, who recently launched his...
From the Left
What to Make of Those Alarming RFK Jr. Polls
In an effort to contextualize just how poorly things have gone for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential aspirations of late, CNN wrote about how he’s faring no better against Trump than a protest candidate is against President Joe Biden.
“Things have gotten so bad for DeSantis that a recent Fox News poll shows him at 21%,” CNN said, “comparable with the 19% that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety, is receiving on the Democratic side.”
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