A new poll has found President Joe Biden losing significant support now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched a bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination for 2024.
The 69-year-old son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy officially entered the race on Wednesday morning.
As he announced his candidacy in Boston, the fierce vaccine skeptic said he opposed the country’s current system of “corporate feudalism.”
“I’ve come here today to announce my candidacy for Democratic nomination for president of the United States,” Kennedy said, Fox News reported.
He added, ”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 on our country.”
Kennedy shared a similar sentiment on Twitter after the announcement:
During his announcement, Kennedy also commented on the “toxic” division in the country, which he said was worse than at any time since the Civil War.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released just before the announcement found Kennedy already had the support of 14 percent of voters who cast ballots for Biden in 2020.
Meanwhile, the other declared Democratic candidate, self-help guru Marianne Williamson, polled at 5 percent.
In total, the poll found Biden only has the support of 67 percent of voters who supported him in 2020.
Another 13 percent of those polled said they were undecided about who to support.
Susan Page with USA Today commented the poll demonstrates Biden’s “vulnerability.”
“The findings underscore Biden’s potential vulnerability to a more mainstream challenger for the Democratic nomination, although none has emerged so far, or to a third-party candidate in the general election,” Page wrote.
David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, also shared his interpretation of the poll’s findings.
“In 2020, Joe Biden received more votes than any other president in U.S. history, yet the poll tells us that those same voters are open to other Democrats to wage a spirited primary,” Paleologos said in a statement. “Kennedy, although a longshot at this point, starts in double-digits and can’t be ignored.”
The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll surveyed 600 Biden voters and reported a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
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