Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s selection to run for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination is supported by 31 percent of eligible voters who backed Joe Biden in the 2020 election, according to a new study executed completely for Newsweek, with just 20 % opposed.
Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, announced his longshot bid for the Democratic nomination in April.
Polling implies President Biden has a commanding guide in excess of Kennedy, and other fringe Democrats, in his bid to protected the party’s 2024 nomination. Kennedy is an environmental activist and vaccine critic. The accomplishment of his campaign will give an sign of how considerably vaccine skeptic sights, presently widespread in the Republican grassroots, have also penetrated the Democrats.
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According to a Redfield & Wilton Procedures survey, carried out for Newsweek, 14 p.c of 2020 Biden voters “strongly assistance” Kennedy “running in the Democratic 2024 presidential key election,” with an additional 17 per cent saying they “help” the conclusion. By contrast, 14 p.c are “strongly opposed,” with a additional 6 per cent “opposed” and 33 percent declaring they neither “guidance nor oppose” his operate.
The figures are related to those people for the United States general public as a entire, where Kennedy’s bid is either supported or strongly supported by 32 % of voters. A different 13 percent are possibly opposed or strongly opposed, with the remaining 34 % stating they are neutral.
Redfield & Wilton Strategies polled 1,500 qualified U.S. voters on June 25. Of these, 577 respondents claimed they voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
The survey also uncovered 31 % of suitable voters assume Kennedy “fits finest in the Democratic Party,” with 29 % expressing he need to be a Republican, 24 per cent an independent and the remainder unsure.
Kennedy is getting supported by the Recover the Divide Super PAC, which is reportedly linked to a number of Donald Trump-supporting Republicans, including Georgia Agent Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Senate prospect Herschel Walker.
Trump himself claimed on Monday that Kennedy was “a incredibly clever person,” adding that the Democratic candidate has been “extremely great” to him. “He is a typical-sense guy and so am I,” Trump instructed radio host Howie Carr.
In the course of a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday evening, Kennedy explained that he was “happy” that Trump likes him, “even nevertheless I really don’t concur with him on most of these challenges.”
The Redfield & Wilton Tactics survey also asked eligible voters to what “to what extent, if at all” they are “acquainted with Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s political views.”
In reaction, 11 per cent explained they are “extremely familiar,” 22 per cent described becoming “rather common,” 27 per cent for “somewhat acquainted” and 41 per cent claimed to be “not at all familiar.”
Kennedy started his political engagement as an environmental protester, but around the earlier couple of decades has come to be well known in the vaccine skeptic motion.
In 2005, Rolling Stone published an report by Kennedy, titled “Lethal Immunity,” which pushed the greatly discredited argument that there is a website link in between vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal and autism. He later on labored for Children’s Health and fitness Defense, a vaccine skeptic group.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Kennedy’s profile rose noticeably, and he dealt with rallies of vaccine skeptics in Italy and Switzerland. In just one movie focused at African Us citizens, he commented: “Really don’t listen to [Anthony] Fauci, and never hear to your health practitioner.”
Vaccine skepticism has surged within the GOP since the coronavirus pandemic, with a Pew Analysis Center poll produced before this calendar year showing the proportion of Republicans who back again school vaccine prerequisites have fallen by 22 factors more than the previous 4 decades.
With regards to the Supreme Court banning affirmative motion in increased ed — I know several Us citizens truly feel that purely race-dependent conclusions are unfair. Even so, this emotion misses important context. The outcomes of racist insurance policies heading back centuries are now self-perpetuating.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 29, 2023
On Thursday, Kennedy spoke out from the Supreme Court‘s determination to ban affirmative motion in better instruction, tweeting: “I know quite a few Us residents come to feel that purely race-centered selections are unfair. Even so, this experience misses crucial context. The consequences of racist guidelines likely again centuries are now self-perpetuating. Affirmative motion understands this and works by using race-centered procedures to undo the results of racist policies.”
Newsweek attained out to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by way of e-mail for comment.
