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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs RFK Jr.'s Support for Real?
Is RFK Jr.s Support for Real?
April 22, 2024 at 5:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 60 Comments
https://politicalwire.com/2024/04/22/is-rfk-jr-s-support-for-real/
"SNIP..............
Third-party and independent candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are making an unusually strong showing in early polls of this falls presidential race a finding that not only highlights a strain of dissatisfaction with Joe Biden and Donald Trump but also adds further uncertainty to what is shaping up to be a close contest between them, CNN reports.
Across five national polls released in March and April from Quinnipiac University, Fox News, Marquette Law School, NBC News and Marist College Kennedy received an average of 13% support for his independent presidential bid when his name was explicitly included in the survey question, with independent candidate Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein taking an average of 3% each. Given the narrow margin between Trump and Biden, who are effectively deadlocked in many surveys, even a fraction of that support could prove crucial to the elections outcome.
Historical precedent, however, suggests that third-party and independent candidates election performances rarely live up to their polling.
...............SNIP"
kimbutgar
(21,206 posts)Of course it could be repukes trying to get us to vote for him to take away votes from President Biden.
That said looking at him and hearing that voice grosses me out!
GreenWave
(6,766 posts)JenniferJuniper
(4,515 posts)I'm hopeful these are former Trumpies because I never saw many Biden signs in 2020.
PatSeg
(47,609 posts)to put out signs or bumper stickers. It can be too dangerous.
JenniferJuniper
(4,515 posts)PatSeg
(47,609 posts)and many of them have destructive and violent tendencies. I can remember a time when none of us in my family had a problem putting bumper stickers on our cars. Now it would be an invitation for vandalism or worse.
nevergiveup
(4,764 posts)Nothing I can say will change his mind. He believes Trump is a thug but with Biden's statement a few weeks ago on signing any bill to ban TikTok along with the Gaza situation he will not be voting for either. When it comes to politics he has recently become a lost soul.
Pretty Fly
(66 posts)nevergiveup
(4,764 posts)In 2008 and 2012 he voted for Obama. In 2016 he voted for Jill Stein and then said he regretted it. He says the people he works with are either voting for Trump or Kennedy. He lives in Colorado.
Pretty Fly
(66 posts)But at least it's not a lost Biden voter if he didn't vote in 2020.
rgbecker
(4,834 posts)DetroitLegalBeagle
(1,927 posts)In Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Home of U of M and Eastern Michigan, respectively.
Torchlight
(3,361 posts)The voters who can't stand trump anymore have to put their vote somewhere, and God forbid it's for a Democrat. Here, hold my nose while I vote for the non-Democrat who's not trump. And I get it, I'll root for any team playing against the 49ers, even Philly. But I also realize the 49ers don't make policy and shape history.
The only rfk supporter I know is my age, closer to sixty than fifty, reagan/bush guy who listned to limbaugh in the nineties when we were roomates. He voted for trump in rd. #1 as I figured he would, but by the second election, something clicked in the ex-roomie's walk-in brain and he says to me over bbq at his place one day, "trump's just in it for himself." I was floored, but not.
This time, ex-roomie with brain space to let (but a good heart nevertheless) says with the convictions of man trying desperately to convince himself, "With RFK, I can vote my conscience for the first time ever!". So I ask, "what specific parts of his platform are getting your policy-wonk genes all hot and bothered for rfk's run?" He responds, "I need another beer. You want one?" This time around I am floored, no 'but not.'
applegrove
(118,805 posts)but I bet Democrats are keeping their powder dry. I'm pretty sure Trump team does not want to disrespect a vaccine denier, science denier as that is their base.
Tree Lady
(11,498 posts)and left. I heard a bunch of women in their 60's in Ashland OR talking about him and 2 ladies in my senior class are wearing campaign buttons for him, also in Ashland. There were a lot of anti vaxers on the left in that town.
applegrove
(118,805 posts)Tree Lady
(11,498 posts)during covid a lot of people the type that use supplements and go to back doctors and natural paths. I suppose they would be against most of them. But I personally don't know these people.
I am taking a senior history class on President Kennedy why I think the women thought they could promote RFK jr there.
Arthur_Frain
(1,862 posts)are bots? Cmon, fess up now.
W_HAMILTON
(7,873 posts)He's basically getting support because he's an alternative to Trump or Biden -- not because anyone really gives a damn about him.
When it gets closer to the election (1) he will actually draw more scrutiny as to what his policies and beliefs actually are, which will eliminate a decent chunk of his supporters and then (2) on Election Day, most people aren't going to wait in line to vote for someone they know has no chance of winning and they don't really care about to begin with.