RFK Jr. Has Surprising Support Among Joe Biden Voters

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to run for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination is supported by 31 percent of eligible voters who backed Joe Biden in the 2020 election, according to a new survey conducted exclusively for Newsweek, with just 20 percent opposed.

Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, announced his longshot bid for the Democratic nomination in April.

Polling indicates President Biden has a commanding lead over Kennedy, and other fringe Democrats, in his bid to secure the party's 2024 nomination. Kennedy is an environmental activist and vaccine critic. The success of his campaign will give an indication of how far vaccine skeptic views, already widespread within the Republican grassroots, have also penetrated the Democrats.

According to a Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey, carried out for Newsweek, 14 percent of 2020 Biden voters "strongly support" Kennedy "running in the Democratic 2024 presidential primary election," with another 17 percent saying they "support" the decision. By contrast, 14 percent are "strongly opposed," with a further 6 percent "opposed" and 33 percent saying they neither "support nor oppose" his run.

The figures are similar to those for the United States public as a whole, where Kennedy's bid is either supported or strongly supported by 32 percent of voters. Another 13 percent are either opposed or strongly opposed, with the remaining 34 percent saying they are neutral.

Redfield & Wilton Strategies polled 1,500 eligible U.S. voters on June 25. Of these, 577 respondents said they voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

The survey also found 31 percent of eligible voters think Kennedy "fits best in the Democratic Party," with 29 percent saying he should be a Republican, 24 percent an independent and the remainder unsure.

Kennedy is being supported by the Heal the Divide Super PAC, which is reportedly linked to a number of Donald Trump-supporting Republicans, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Senate candidate Herschel Walker.

Trump himself said on Monday that Kennedy was "a very smart guy," adding that the Democratic candidate has been "very nice" to him. "He's a common-sense guy and so am I," Trump told radio host Howie Carr.

During a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday night, Kennedy said that he was "proud" that Trump likes him, "even though I don't agree with him on most of these issues."

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey also asked eligible voters to what "to what extent, if at all" they are "familiar with Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s political views."

In response, 11 percent said they are "very familiar," 22 percent reported being "fairly familiar," 27 percent for "somewhat familiar" and 41 percent claimed to be "not at all familiar."

The survey also found 75 percent of those who backed Biden in 2020 want the president to take part in Democratic primary debates.

Speaking to Newsweek, a Kennedy campaign spokesperson said: "The polls you mention show the hunger in the electorate for genuine democracy, where incumbents face vigorous challenges from candidates with substantially different views. Of course, they want debates."

Kennedy began his political engagement as an environmental protester, but over the past couple of decades has become prominent within the vaccine skeptic movement.

In 2005, Rolling Stone published an article by Kennedy, titled "Deadly Immunity," which pushed the widely discredited argument that there is a link between vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal and autism. He later worked for Children's Health Defense, a vaccine skeptic group.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Kennedy's profile rose significantly, and he addressed rallies of vaccine skeptics in Italy and Switzerland. In one video targeted at African Americans, he commented: "Don't listen to [Anthony] Fauci, and don't listen to your doctor."

Vaccine skepticism has surged within the GOP since the coronavirus pandemic, with a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this year showing the proportion of Republicans who back school vaccine requirements have fallen by 22 points over the past four years.

On Thursday, Kennedy spoke out against the Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action in higher education, tweeting: "I know many Americans feel that purely race-based decisions are unfair. However, this feeling misses important context. The effects of racist policies going back centuries are now self-perpetuating. Affirmative action understands this and uses race-based policies to undo the effects of racist policies."

Update 7/1/23 4:00 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from the Kennedy campaign.