By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s will soon be making the biggest choice of his life. This week, the Democrat-turned-Independent is expected to announce his running mate and campaign observers claim it will be the kind of boost he needs to get on more ballots across the country.
The Hill reports that “Kennedy’s decision to unveil his vice-presidential pick next Tuesday shows a longevity to his bid that many Democrats hoped would have fizzled out by now. Announcing a running mate means the independent candidate has met a necessary benchmark required by two dozen states to be listed on the ballot, something that will bring even more attention to his campaign.
‘Having a vice president on the ticket shows that he’s moving forward,’ Tony Lyons, co-founder of Kennedy’s American Values super PAC, told The Hill in an interview this week. ‘Voters then get to see that he’s very serious about becoming president.’
Ballot experts and strategists say qualifying for dozens of individual states can be so expensive that it can keep a candidate from catching on, despite other signs of traction like strong polling and a popular message.”
Politico, however, noted that Kennedy’s campaign was drawing in financial support from groups that often swing elections and shock prognosticators.
Irregular and first-time voters can help decide elections. They helped propel Trump to victory in 2016. And interviews with some of Kennedy’s recent backers reveal an electorate that’s both newly engaged with politics and turned off by a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Roughly 21,000 donors have given Kennedy’s campaign at least $200 since he declared his independent run in October, and a POLITICO analysis found that 74 percent of them did not make any political donations during the 2020 cycle. And interviews with numerous Kennedy backers reveal it’s made up of a powerful bloc of people not only drawn to Kennedy but turned off by the general election matchup.
“I’m just anti-Trump. I’m feeling sorry for Biden. And Bobby’s speaking on the topics that I like,” said Daniel Thropp, who is retired and didn’t vote in the 2020 presidential election. A former registered Republican, Thropp said only Kennedy is talking about fighting “Big Pharma” and corruption in federal regulatory agencies.
Kennedy’s presidential bid is drawing a level of financial support that is unprecedented for an independent candidate, raising nearly $28 million as of the end of last month.
RFK Jr.’s campaign said he qualified for the ballot in New Hampshire, Utah and Hawaii. According to Fox news, “Lyons said Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and South Carolina have also been added to the list. Notably, the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have already shown warning signs for Biden.”
Michigan could become a tough state for Biden, especially after his latest move to effectively ban gas automobiles within a decade could see Detroit’s Big Three carmakers–along with the unions who work in their factories–take a major blow.
The New York Post recently revealed that “former President Donald Trump has opened up an 8 percentage-point lead over President Biden in the battleground state of Michigan, matching his largest margin in recent polling of the Mitten State.
The CNN/SSRS survey published Friday showed the 45th president, 77, leading the 46th president, 81, by 50% to 42% among registered voters.
The eight-point spread in favor of Trump matches a Detroit News poll of likely voters from early January that showed the former president leading Biden 47% to 39% among likely voters.
In a hypothetical four-way matchup among Trump, Biden and independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, 40% choose Trump and 34% pick Biden, while 18% are for Kennedy and 4% for West.”
A Gallup poll from January revealed that Kennedy is the most liked candidate running for president in 2024.
The polling firm wrote, “The same poll measured Americans’ overall impressions of Trump’s chief rivals for the Republican presidential nomination — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley — as well as independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy easily tops the list with a 52% favorable rating, while Haley and DeSantis are each viewed favorably by about a third. However, Haley’s net image is the more positive of the two, given her lower unfavorable rating (34% to DeSantis’ 52%).”
Three candidates have been rumored to be on Kennedy’s shortlist for vice president: former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, Senator Rand Paul, NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers, and Silicon Valley lawyer and billionaire Nicole Shanahan.
[Read More: Ronna McDaniel Sells Out GOP For MSNBC]
