Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-shot challenge to President Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary is exposing some of the commander-in-chief’s electoral soft spots.
The son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy is peeling away a slice of young, moderate-minded, less-liberal voters who previously backed Mr. Biden, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
“He is benefiting from people who are put off by Biden’s age, and also people who are more moderate, and then there are people who are still wowed by the Kennedy legacy,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
The poll released this week showed Mr. Kennedy winning over 14% of voters who backed Mr. Biden over then-President Donald Trump in 2020.
Self-help author Marianne Williamson is the preferred pick of 5% of those voters while another 13% are on the fence.
Meanwhile, only 67% of the Biden 2020 crowd said it is sticking with him in the 2024 nomination battle.
Mr. Biden is the nation’s oldest elected president. He would be 82 years old on Inauguration Day 2025 if he wins a second term. Mr. Kennedy is 69 years old.
Mr. Kennedy, who has garnered attention as a critic of the COVID-19 vaccines, provided a glimpse into his message this week at his official campaign launch, warning that the powers that be are selling out to Big Pharma companies, and keeping the nation in a constant state of war.
“My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Kennedy said the nation has not been this polarized since the Civil War, calling the resulting politics “so toxic and so dangerous.”
“When I talk to both Republican friends and Democratic friends they talk about this division in almost apocalyptic terms,” he said.
“Nobody can see a safe way or a good way out of it, and people are preparing for a kind of dystopian future.”
“One of the principal missions of my campaign and my presidency is going to end that division,” Mr. Kennedy said, vowing to tell the “truth” to the American people.”
Mr. Biden has signaled he plans to seek reelection but continues to put off the announcement.
The delay has kept alive speculation that he might not run. Others, however, say there is no rush for Mr. Biden to jump into the race.
They say he is not facing any high-profile competition and that he is better off keeping the public’s attention focused on Republican infighting over the party’s presidential nomination.
The USA Today/ Suffolk poll included 600 Biden voters from 2020. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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