Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is eating into President Joe Biden‘s support with key voters he has struggled to keep in his column throughout his presidency.
Polls conducted by the New York Times, Siena College, and the Philadelphia Inquirer indicate that the independent presidential candidate is drawing his strongest support from voters under 30 and Latinos, giving truth to the concern Democrats have he could spoil Biden’s reelection campaign.
Kennedy has 18% support from voters under 30 and 14% from Latinos in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in a poll released earlier this week.
An ex-Democratic strategist previously raised the alarm about Kennedy’s polling numbers among the demographics, showing the numbers to Democratic super PACs and groups.
“Young voters and Latinos respond really well to a hard-edge economic populist message — and that is not Biden’s message,” Ben Tulchin said. “They’re dissatisfied about the political and economic status quo. And I see in that mind-set the potential opening to support a third-party candidate.”
Kennedy’s support could turn the 2024 election into “multidimensional chess, and it becomes a lot more complicated,” Tulchin said, while 2020 remained two-dimensional.
A survey found that 59% of Hispanic voters and those aged 18-29 chose Biden in 2020, both among the largest leads Democrats have in age and racial demographics.
Both Biden and former President Donald Trump have spent time attacking the independent candidate as they consider whether Kennedy could be siphoning support away from them. Initially, it seemed Democrats would have the biggest worry with the famous Democratic Kennedy last name at his disposal.
But Trump has turned up his attacks on the independent candidate, calling him a “Democrat plant” and emphasizing that he’s a leftist candidate.
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Kennedy drew an average of about 10% support from each swing state polled.
Besides picking up hard support, Kennedy also appears more likable than the current and former president. He was the only candidate who had a net positive favorability rating, with 41% favoring him compared to 38% who did not have a favorable view of him.