February 17, 2024 - 5:15pm
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been performing unusually well for an independent presidential candidate, winning over a cross-section of voters that defies partisan demographic patterns.
The podcast Breaking Points ran a small focus group earlier this week on RFK supporters in the Detroit suburbs, and found that they were drawn by his charisma, independence and name, with some expecting him to carry on his family’s legacy and others believing he’d take the Kennedy name in a new direction. Participants in the small focus group were sceptical of the political establishment’s handling of Covid-19, though they all had different concerns, such as vaccine safety, corporate vaccine requirements and Covid treatment policies.
The RFK supporters had unfavourable views of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and three of the seven participants said that Kennedy joining Trump’s ticket as vice president would improve their perception of the latter.
Broader demographic data from various pollsters paints a more clear picture of precisely what type of voter is supporting RFK, who has a massive advantage among young people. In a three-way race, RFK wins 38% of the vote among those aged 18 to 34, higher than both Biden and Trump, according to a Quinnipiac poll carried out in October. His performance progressively worsens in proportion to voters’ age — he only wins 14% of the 65 and up vote — throwing cold water on the idea that he owes his success to older voters’ fond memories of his uncle, John F. Kennedy.
The same poll found that RFK performed better among Hispanic (33%) and black (24%) voters compared to white voters (17%). RFK’s father and namesake was viewed as a civil rights icon and was similarly popular with racial minorities.
More recent polling breaks down candidates into a five-way race, with Cornel West and Jill Stein included, and a similar pattern emerges. RFK performs twice as well with under-35s as he does with over-65s, and he receives 20% of the Hispanic vote along with 13% of the black and white vote.
Between the youth and minority vote, RFK is cutting into a coalition that one might expect to go for Biden. Yet voters with favourable views of Kennedy were twice as likely to have voted for Trump than for Biden in 2020, a January YouGov poll found. Respondents were virtually tied on whether they viewed RFK as liberal or conservative.
The media has focused on his vaccine scepticism, which in the Covid era has landed him firmly on the Right in the public’s perception. But Kennedy has called for “targeted community repair” of areas impacted by racial segregation and a reformative approach to criminal justice that emphasises “rehabilitation” of offenders rather than punishment.
RFK remains a long-shot candidate, but his ascendance offers some clues about Americans’ disenchantment with the political establishment and the two-party system. Main-party candidates looking to win over independents might take some cues from Kennedy, who has managed to peel voters off of both Trump and Biden.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeSo he’s pro climate change, anti-vaccine and defund the police. Sounds like a proper dog’s dinner – either that or he’ll say just about anything to get a vote.
Back to your homework Robbie!
He does not have a defund the police policy. That’s just plain lazy.
What’s interesting is that the biggest advertising spenders on TV/cable across CNN, CBS right through to FOX news are all big pharma dollars. So considering his stance on big pharma the hostility of all mainstream media to RFK might not be unrelated.
Even to call him ‘anti-vaccine’ is lazy. His views on vaccines are, in fact, much more nuanced.
He wants the schedule for kids’ vaccination reviewed – that means conducting double blinded randomised control trials on all vaccines currently being given to children. If they pass the requisite safety standard (we’ll know in 5 – 7 years after the trials), then he wants to see them rolled out again.
That is something that should have been done in the first place – the scandal is that it never was!
You can’t really do tests that take 5-7 years when a pandemic is raging.
That’s true. All the more reason not to create viruses in labs in the first place. And if you do, why not use repurposed drugs with proven safety profiles, like Ivermectin or Plaquenil?
Just as, in 2016, every one of these outlets was owned by a corporation with big investments in China – which might not be unrelated to their hysterical opposition to Trump.
RFK gives a detailed explanation of where he stands on all issues. Essentially he is against the public- private partnerships that dominate the Democrats now.
He is an old fashioned environmentalist who recognises that those who push the climate change-net zero narrative- global solution needed, are not interested in pollution of specific areas.
He sees big Pharma as having no concern about the health of the nation and the defence -industrial complex determined to push forever wars.
He is pro-free speech, anti divisive identity politics and wants to heal the nation by bringing everyone together.
Not sure why anyone would give you down votes- that certainly is an accurate description.
I like RFK. He’s well spoken, detailed oriented and intelligent. However, I think he has a massive blind spot on net zero. And this above everything else – DEI, CRT, vaccines et al – has the potential to destroy the prosperity and living standards we enjoy today.
He’s been up against the inevitable compromises that candidates have to make, and I am not with him on some issues, but compared to the alternatives, it is simply no contest. Please vote RFK Jr US readers for your sake and ours.
Seems the only reason you and others like him is because of his anti-vaccine stance.
The Pfizer ‘vaccine’ isn’t actually a vaccine at all. It’s an untested gene therapy.
It was inevitable that the anti-vaxxers would be along sometime.
I like him. He sounds like a leader. Sure there are issues, but on balance, strongly positive. If only Tulsi Gabbard could be his running mate.
“.…and others believing he’d take the Kennedy name in a new direction“. Yes, he will take it in the direction of unhinged conspiracy theories. Still, I guess he is no madder than Trump.