OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A couple of candidates have stepped up to challenge President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination, which is surprising in and of itself, given that under normal circumstances, incumbents historically run unopposed.
But these are not normal times.
Biden continues to show signs of his age — 80 — and the country is increasingly facing a series of challenges ranging from high inflation, including Americans paying steadily more for energy, to foreign crises like the war in Ukraine and a threatening China. The U.S. border is a chaotic mess, interest rates are high and show no signs of abating, while homelessness and crime beset our biggest cities, all of which are run by the president’s party.
Meanwhile, Americans are at each other’s throats, politically divided, and living in a racially charged society as a culture war between left and right rages.
So given the current state of the union and Biden’s administration, it should come as no surprise that he’s being challenged for his party’s nomination ahead of an election next year that a growing number of Americans believe will decide the future of the country.
And one of those who has stepped in to challenge Biden is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose family has a long history in Democratic Party politics, even if it is a party from a different, less extreme era.
Not only has RFK Jr. decided to get into the race, but he is also off to a stunningly good start “with the support of 14% of voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.”
“That is surprising strength for a candidate who has a famous political name but is now known mostly as the champion of a debunked conspiracy theory blaming childhood vaccines for autism,” USA Today snarked.
According to the poll conducted between Saturday and Tuesday, a mere 67 percent of those who supported Biden in 2020 expressed their intention to back him for the Democratic nomination over his current contenders.
Meanwhile, Kennedy secured 14 percent of the support, whereas Marianne Williamson, a self-help author who ran for the nomination in the last election cycle, got 5 percent. The survey also revealed that 13 percent of the respondents remained undecided, USA Today reported.
BREAKING NEWS: RFK Jr launches Democratic presidential challenge to Biden https://t.co/paMRnnMpuW
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 19, 2023
USA Today poll finds RFK Jr with 14% support among 2020 Biden voters in challenge to Biden. 'Findings underscore Biden's potential vulnerability to a more mainstream challenger for the Democratic nomination…' https://t.co/SqdPTRqc5x
— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 20, 2023
The survey was conducted through both landline and cellphone calls and involved 600 individuals who voted for Biden. These voters were identified through national and state polls from 2020 to 2022. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
These results highlight the possibility of Biden being susceptible to a more conventional opponent in the Democratic nomination race, although there hasn’t been a top challenger just yet. Additionally, the findings suggest that there may be a risk of a third-party candidate posing a challenge to him in the general election, the outlet reported.
“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,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, told USA Today. “Kennedy, although a long shot at this point, starts in double digits and can’t be ignored.”
Among the Biden voters who disapprove of the president’s performance, Kennedy secured the support of 33 percent, while 35 percent of those who think that Biden’s policies are “too liberal” also backed him. Kennedy’s appeal was especially strong among self-identified conservatives, younger voters, and those without a college degree, the report said.
“He is the son of Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was assassinated as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. An environmental lawyer, he became a prominent promoter of a link between vaccines and autism,” USA Today reported.
“His views have sometimes aligned him with former President Donald Trump and his supporters. In 2017, Trump asked Kennedy to chair a presidential commission on vaccine safety,” the news outlet added.
