In a surprising turn of events, a former pollster for Senator Bernie Sanders, Ben Tulchin, is raising alarms about the potential appeal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among Latinos and younger voters in the upcoming presidential election. Tulchin, who conducted his own polling in battleground states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, found that Kennedy could draw support away from President Biden among these crucial demographic groups.
Tulchin’s concern stems from the fact that Latinos and younger voters, who were not particularly enthusiastic about Biden during the 2020 election, may see Kennedy as a viable alternative to the current president. Kennedy, running as an independent, is polling stronger than any third-party candidate in decades and has already made the ballot in Michigan.
President Biden and the Democratic National Committee are taking these concerns seriously, with Biden making efforts to appeal to Latino and younger voters through initiatives like the “Latinos con Biden-Harris” coalition. However, Tulchin believes that the Democratic Party’s focus on discrediting Kennedy’s ties to the anti-vaccine movement may not be enough to sway these voters.
Despite Kennedy not yet being on most states’ ballots, polls have shown that he could potentially siphon off support from Biden among young and Latino voters. With Kennedy offering a message of anti-establishment, anti-corporate economic populism similar to that of Bernie Sanders, Tulchin warns that the race is becoming more complex and that Democrats need to broaden their strategy to retain these crucial voters.