The 2024 presidential race got a new entrant on Wednesday: Robert Kennedy Jr., prominent both for his last name and his skepticism about vaccines, formally launched his campaign, reports the Hill. Despite controversy over the latter issue, a USA Today poll conducted with Suffolk University suggests that Kennedy enters the race with the support of 14% of voters who backed Joe Biden in 2020. That is not only "surprising" good news for Kennedy, it's bad news for Biden because it suggests how vulnerable he is, per the story. Of those 2020 Biden supporters, only 67% said they would back him again for sure—in addition to Kennedy's 14%, Marianne Williamson has 5% and about 13% are undecided.
"In 2020, Joe Biden received more votes than any other president in US history, yet the poll tells us that those same voters are open to other Democrats to wage a spirited primary," says David Paleologos of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. "Kennedy, although a longshot at this point, starts in double-digits and can't be ignored." The poll suggests that a more mainstream challenger would pose a legit challenge. Most of Kennedy's support appears to come from among the more conservative of Biden's supporters and particularly among those who disapprove of his job as president.
Kennedy, meanwhile, has earned the disapproval of members of his own famous family for making debunked claims about the dangers of vaccines, not just the COVID shots, notes CNN. He is the son of Robert Kennedy, who was fatally shot while running for president himself, and the nephew of John F. Kennedy. Last year, he apologized after suggesting that Jewish people in Nazi Germany had more freedom than Americans living under COVID mandates, per the New York Times. "Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland," he said in a speech. "You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did." (Kennedy is married to actor Cheryl Hines, who does not share his vaccine views.)
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