Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential candidacy is posing a significant threat to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign as support for Kennedy surges with Latinos, Politico has reported.
The development is reflected in a Equis Research poll done in February that shows Kennedy surpassing Biden among Latino voters in 12 battleground states.
Although Kennedy is currently only on the ballot in the state of Utah, his campaign has announced that they have collected enough signatures to expand to other states, including the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada which hold a significant percent of Latino voters.
The Equis Research poll surveyed 2,010 registered Latino voters and found Kennedy with 21% support in Nevada and 17% support in Arizona.
These percentages are enough to make a big difference in the winner-take-all states, as in 2020 Biden won Arizona by less than 11,000 votes and Nevada by 34,000 votes.
🚨Let’s take a deeper look at the Equis poll of 2,010 registered Latinos, where RFK splintered Biden’s Latino support, alarming Democrats I spoke to:
Kennedy support:
– 1 in 5 Latinos age 18-29
– 1 in 5 Latinas
– 17% in Arizona
– 21% in Nevada— the highest among states polled https://t.co/ptJe14aU6k pic.twitter.com/Y6cxjfEZ3m— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) April 4, 2024
Democrat strategist Lis Smith reacted, saying, “If Kennedy makes it on the ballot in these states — and that’s a big if — we’re going to make sure voters know how extreme his policies are and that MAGA mega-donors are bankrolling his spoiler campaign to be a stalking horse for Donald Trump.”
In addition to his gains with Latino voters, the combination of Kennedy’s name recognition and a lack of enthusiasm for Biden are working in favor of his independent run. And although Kennedy has made many statements that appeal to populist ideas of challenging the status quo in Washington, he has been a lifelong Democrat until his defection to “independent” status, which may give him a better foothold with Democrats than Republicans.
Furthermore, his choice of Nicole Shanahan as a running mate, who is known for having leftist views, also indicates that the Kennedy ticket will likely lean towards siphoning votes away from Biden more than Trump.
Meanwhile, the Kennedy campaign is reviving the “Viva Kennedy” theme that his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, used all the way back in 1960 to appeal to the Latino base. The move has both angered and alarmed Democrats who have historically enjoyed winning a majority of the Latino vote, but is now having to defend it against who they see as an upstart usurper.
