Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly hurting President Biden in the polls as he continues his independent campaign for the White House.
Kennedy initially ran against Biden in the Democratic primary and saw some good results in the polls despite not having a legitimate chance of winning the nomination.
But, as The Political Insider reported at the time, “Man, if only someone could convince Kennedy to run as an independent.”
He did. Some readers, however, were concerned that his views on the COVID vaccine were strongly linked to conservative views at the time and could lead to him taking votes away from Donald Trump.
The numbers don’t seem to confirm this.
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Biden loses points in polls that include RFK Jr.
Trump, the Republican nominee, has worked hard to make sure voters understand that RFK is more closely aligned with President Biden. The message seems to come from the polls.
“RFK Jr has always been a leftist. He voted for Biden in the 2020 election, calls himself a “Kennedy Democrat,” and has donated to Democrats since 1985,” a Trump campaign email reads. “He supported Hillary Clinton in her 2000 Senate race, in the 2008 presidential race and over Trump in 2016.”
According to Intelligencerwhile RFK initially took votes away from both candidates, his role has become more defined in recent polls.
“More recent polls have most often shown it helps Trump more than Biden, both nationally and in battleground states,” they write.
The outlet cites numbers from RealClearPolitics showing RFK influencing the race by nearly four full points. This is a significant change when you’re talking about two candidates who have been feuding for some time.
“RealClearPolitics polling averages nationwide now show Trump leading Biden by 1.6% (46.6 to 45.0%) in a two-candidate race, and by 5.4% (from 40.7 to 35.3%, with Kennedy at 12.3%) in a three-candidate race,” Intelligencer writes.
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Just the name Kennedy
Tuesday’s RealClearPolling also showed Trump leading or tied with Biden in every swing state except Wisconsin.
With RFK in the poll, it was a clean sweep for Trump, including Wisconsin going from +1 for Biden to +2 for Trump, a three-point swing, as well as Pennsylvania going from a tie to +6 for Trump.
This means he could hugely influence the election if he stays. It seems that the name Kennedy alone is enough to convince some Democrats to vote for RFK.
His own family realizes this. Kennedy has been ostracized by the clan for some time now. But the situation has heated up since they realized that he could help Trump win.
RFK’s sister sees the ballot boxes. She too is troubled by the idea that her brother is taking votes away from Biden.
“I firmly believe that this is the most important election of our lifetime. And there’s so much at stake, and I think it’s going to come down to a handful of votes and a handful of states,” Rory Kennedy tells CNN.
“And I fear that Bobby simply taking a certain percentage of the vote from Biden could shift the election and lead to the election of Trump.”
It will certainly be interesting to see how much pressure the Democrats put on him to withdraw.
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