RFK Jr. supporters express desire for change
Republicans paint independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a radical liberal, and Democrats say he is being financed and manipulated by right-wing donors to hurt President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. But interviews with Kennedy supporters show they are not interested in labels, especially those prescribed by the major political parties they have left behind.
Kennedy is drawing supporters from both sides of the political divide. Some voted for Republican candidate Donald Trump in the last two elections but are now backing Kennedy. Others are disillusioned progressives ready to cast aside Biden, the incumbent.
In a recent Reuters poll, Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has spread misinformation on vaccines, was backed by 13% of respondents in a matchup between him, Biden and Trump. Kennedy says he is not anti-vaccine, but for more rigorous testing of vaccines.
It is not yet clear whether Kennedy would pull more votes away from Biden or from Trump.
Below are excerpts from Reuters interviews with seven Kennedy supporters from across the U.S., including in the battleground states of Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina. And Kennedy’s reported brain worm didn’t make them waver in their support.
Former Trump fan in Nevada
Arnetha Saulsbury, a 49-year-old claims specialist in Las Vegas, Nevada, voted for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections. She said her main news sources are CNN, Fox, various podcasters and social media platform X.
“The main thing that got me was his strength on COVID accountability. With the lockdowns, has anybody been held accountable for that? How much money was lost during that time period, the inflation, that spending package?… No one should be forced to take a one-sizefits-all (vaccine).”
“Am I going to get my way every time with him if he wins the office? Probably not. But the main thing he’s going to win me over with is that COVID accountability.”
“When I saw Ron DeSantis and RFK Jr, I said, ‘In a perfect world, these two will be a team together.’ I still would have voted for RFK Jr even if he had a “D” (Democrat) to his name, because I don’t care about the titles.”
Previous Biden-backer in NC
Juan Schaar, a 37-year-old software developer near Raleigh, North Carolina, who voted for Biden in the 2020 election. He did not vote in the 2016 election as he was not yet eligible. He says he tries to get his news “from the horse’s mouth” as much as possible.
RFK Jr. “points to this corrupt system that we have where the pharmaceutical industry runs the regulatory agencies that are supposed to be regulating them. The same with the (Environmental Protection Agency) with fossil fuels. Big Ag runs the (U.S. Department of Agriculture). All of these federal agencies that are there to protect the American people against any laws being broken or standards to uphold, they essentially work for these large corporations through corruption.”
“The (Democratic National Committee) has become a party of pro-war, procensorship, elitism. It’s more interested in protecting the interest of corporations and corporate donors.”
A Texas conservative
Mark Whittingslow, a 55-year-old project engineer in the Houston, Texas, area who voted for Trump in the past two elections, said he gets his news from local news channels, search engines like MSN and Google and social media platforms.
“Mainly it’s the idea of an honest government. I don’t feel that in my lifetime we’ve ever really had that, and to have someone come into that office and promise to be transparent about what our government is doing and saying and the policies that they’re enacting… I would be willing to support RFK Jr. even though he’s not a conservative.”
“If (Kennedy) weren’t in the picture, I would be voting for Trump.”
Ex-Green Party voter
Matthew McCloskey, a 26-year-old wellness advisor in Holland, Michigan, voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the 2016 election and wrote in former Democratic primary candidate Andrew Yang in the 2020 election. He said he gets his news from social media platform X, The Hill, CNN, journalist Lee Camp and podcasts.
“I voted in our primary in Michigan here as an undecided voter, so that was probably my last vote as a Democrat, and I’ve been drawn to really anybody in any party who speaks to disaffected voters like myself.
“The DNC does not listen to their own voters. If the DNC would have opened up their primary, made it competitive, a little more democratic, I would have definitely got behind them.”
“As I listened to him speak, I could tell this guy really understands what we’re facing as a country. He knows how to bring people together.”
An ex-Democrat from Rochester
Kevin Nally, a 68-year-old systems administrator in Rochester, New York, who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and Biden in the 2020 election. He said he gets his news from NewsNation, local and national news on NBC and CBS, Reuters, NPR, The Joe Rogan Experience, Tucker Carlson, The Hill, Valuetainment, comedian Russell Brand and social media platform X.
RFK Jr.’s “not in that party structure. Those political parties are authoritarian and they don’t allow dissent. Anyone who speaks out against the Democratic orthodox is pushed out. Bernie Sanders was pushed out, because he was against Hillary Clinton… I think an independent voice in there and someone who’s not going to be tied down to this systemic problem would be what we need.”
A retired teacher from California
Evelyn Burnett, a 79-year-old retired teacher in the Sierra Foothills in California who voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson in the 2016 election and Biden in the 2020 election. She said she gets her news from AllSides, Fox, Newsmax, CNN and podcasts.
“I agree with him about fighting corporate greed and fighting against the takeover of the farms, big corporations, what’s so destructive of the environment.”
“When I saw that Robert Kennedy Jr. was running, I still was a little skeptical because I had been a Democrat and I had been listening to MSNBC and the legacy media and all that and they all said he was a conspiracy theorist. So I was a little skeptical until I saw him on (Michael Smerconish last year). And I said to myself, ‘He seems very intelligent, very bright, very honest, and a good man.’ ”