Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a Democrat running as an independent for president, has brought in more donors from past Donald Trump supporters than he has from those who used to support Joe Biden, according to a POLITICO analysis on Wednesday.
That may signal that Kennedy is able to draw more votes away from the Trump side than would seem intuitive, considering Kennedy is very liberal on many issues. Kennedy known for his environmental activism and his opposition to vaccine mandates, which puts him all over the map politically.
The POLITICO analysis of campaign finance records revealed that Kennedy has been able to attract donors who have not contributed to presidential campaigns during the last two elections, “suggesting he is activating people who have been turned off by what major parties have been offering.”
In fact, two-thirds Kennedy’s $10 million raised from large-dollar donors through Sept. 30 came from voters who did not make any federal donations during either the 2016 or 2020 election cycles, the news organization said.
It’s still too early to know who Kennedy threatens most — Trump or Biden — since Kennedy only declared as an independent on Oct. 9, more than a year before the presidential general election.
In other news related to the Kennedy campaign, a man was arrested twice last week after trying to break into Kennedy’s home in Los Angeles. Kennedy was home at the time of both attempts. President Joe Biden has refused to allow Kennedy to have Secret Service protection, even though his father and uncle were politically assassinated in the 1960s.
Read the full analysis of Kennedy’s campaign finances at this link.
If true, wonder why?
Much of RFKs positions should be antithetical to MAGA voters.
Only thing that makes sense is that subsection of Trump voters are more interested in disrupting the system than Trump or his policies.
Be very interesting to see how this plays out.
I consider RFK Jr to be principled opposition. He holds himself to his own standards. Like most of us, he found it jarring when morbidly obese women running our public health organizations would scold the rest about our COVID responsibilities – when it was well known being overweight was the #1 contributing factor to COVID hospitalization.
RFK Jr kind of reminds me of Julian Assange. Assange was about exposing government secrets, without regard to whether it injured Republicans (Iraq War expose) or Democrats (2016 DNC Leak/Seth Rich murder). Sadly, being principled rarely makes you friends in government, and he’s paying the price.
Like many old-school ‘liberals’ RFK Jr is reflexively suspicious of the corporate sector. Its informs his earlier work on both the environment and later interest in medicine and vaccination. He isn’t opposed to using big government to bring them to heel. All of them. Oil companies. Mining. Tech sector. Pharma. Banks. Blackrock. Vanguard.
Its a sledgehammer answer to kill a Google/Pfizer/Blackrock fly, but IMO that fly needs to go – even if there is collateral damage to other industries.
I’ll take that over the current Obama leftist types whose only regulatory standard is punishing enemies while rewarding their woke friends. I’ll even accept that over half of the Republican field – who clearly just want to feed at the trough while obstructing MAGA candidates willing to fight back.
RFK Jr appears to be principled opposition. He distrusts the current state of nutrition and overprescription of medication. When asked about gun control – he correctly pointed out that we’ve had guns for decades – its the prescription drugs and mental illness that are running wild. Like most of us, he found it jarring when morbidly obese women running our public health organizations would scold the rest about our COVID responsibilities – when it was well known being overweight was the #1 contributing factor to COVID hospitalization. And he demonstrated that he walks the walk, and takes care of his own health.
RFK Jr kind of reminds me of Julian Assange. Assange was about exposing government secrets, without regard to whether it injured Republicans (Iraq War expose) or Democrats (2016 DNC Leak/Seth Rich murder). Sadly, being principled rarely makes you friends in government, and he’s paying the price.
Like many old-school ‘liberals’ RFK Jr is reflexively suspicious of the corporate sector. Its informs his earlier work on both the environment and later interest in medicine and vaccination. He isn’t opposed to using big government to bring them to heel. All of them. Oil companies. Mining. Tech sector. Pharma. Banks. Blackrock. Vanguard.
Its a sledgehammer answer to kill a Google/Pfizer/Blackrock fly, but IMO that fly needs to go – even if there is collateral damage to other industries.
I’ll take that over the current Obama leftist types whose only regulatory standard is punishing corporate enemies while rewarding their woke corporate friends. I’ll even accept that over half of the Republican field – who clearly just want to feed at the trough while obstructing MAGA candidates willing to aggressively fight back.
Nice.
Server side timeout + delayed comment moderation = annoying double post.
He is, at the end of the day, a politician and his primary principle is no more than winning another election.
Just think of the economic and societal impact of one of his ploys…he’s pro-reparations.
He’s no more ethical or admirable than any other Democrat (yes, I know he’s “I” now) and far less so than either his uncle or father.
Or this suggests that Trump supporters want Kennedy to perform well because they believe it’ll benefit Trump. I think that Kennedy will definitely hurt Biden the most, but the more “legitimate” his candidacy.. the most damage he can cause.
Exactly the point I was going to make. Donations don’t necessarily equal votes; in a case like this the donations may be flowing from Republicans because they believe it benefits them to have Kennedy in the race.
I donated heavily to RFK Jr. Not because I want him to be president. I want the Democrats to mess up themselves, just like they do to Republicans. Let the games begin. Democrats are in huge trouble with the pervert, crime boss named Joe Biden.
Yours is a huge segment, Julia. Many, many Republicans support Robert Kennedy now, but would never ever vote for him in a general election. Myself included. I want the Democrats to soil themselves in a huge way.
I agree!
Julia, Democrats could indeed “mess up themselves.” However, it is unlikely they could mess up Republicans. Democrats simply rig rules and then calibrate themselves accordingly. Then, they rely on Republicans messing up by failing to adapt (see Ranked Choice Voting). Generally, we are usually messed up more by ourselves than by others.
Wayne. That’s such a crock. Which party, which President “rigged the rules” after the 2020 election?
The Big Guy, of course. That is, when he wasn’t eating ice cream and sniffing the hair of some eight-year old girl.
His uncle and dad may had the love and respect of world leaders. I doubt todays world leaders share the same respect for a Kennedy child.
America needs its next president whom commands fear and respect from world leaders such as Erdoğan, Putin, Ayatollah, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al, Abdullah II.
World leaders didn’t love them.
LOL, your sarcasm is wasted in this literal desert.
He is still a politician who wants to control us and make himself wealthy.
All media surveys are bunk and not to be trusted ! More b.s. !
Junior is a liberal Democrat who came town on the right side of the vaccine/Covid controversy but he’s about as far from Trump as he can get on other issues and he’d be a terrible president.
President Trump is not on “the right side of the vaccine”
He fast tracked the vaccine, took the vaccine & can’t talk about his vaccine at his rallies.
So JFK Jr. & Trump are opposite on the vaccine.
PJ, Let’s look at a few important topics and where Trump and Bobby stand on them.
Border- Bobby gets attacked by the left for wanting to seal it up and stop the flow. He is accused of being like Trump.
Guns- Bobby rightly points out that we’ve always had plenty of guns in our society and yet there were very few examples of the mass killings that we have now. What’s changed? Obviously it’s not guns.
Capitalism- Like T, Bobby agrees that Capitalism is the best system to provide prosperity and peace. They might also agree that it’s the Corporations which now control the State that are the problem. Trump refers to this as the Swamp.
Trump and Bobby Jr might also agree on the use of our Military and the need to work for peace through economic means as opposed to these endless wars .
Bobby and Trump however are probably at odds over the Climate Change Bravo Sierra, so that’s one for Trump.
Trouble is for Trump that he was a tool for Big Pharma during the so called Covid Scamdemic. T still maintains that he ” saved” 100 million lives by ramming his ” Operation Warp Speed” through the Big Pharma controlled Government Agencies.
Unwittingly T became the Swamps biggest supporter by this action. Go figure!
In the end, I might agree with Bobby 60% of the time and with Trump maybe 70%.
It’s tough to get past the Big Pharma Scandemic though…
He doesn’t get protection because he is not a major candidate. He loves conspiracies and is anti-vax, no wonder the right loves him. Kennedy has a negative rating with Democrats. No surprise that Hannity turned on him when he declared Independent status. Kennedy might peel off enough votes in swing states to take down the grabber.
The average Democrat has gotten so extreme leftwing nutty that even a Kennedy isn’t good enough.
JFK wouldn’t be accepted in today’s Democrat party because he didn’t hate America enough.
Like so many others – RFK Jr didn’t leave the Democrats, the Democrats left him.
RFK Jr. shames the Democrat party because he is a living reminder of what they have become.
He reminds them that the US Government isn’t supposed to be a lapdog for Big (donor) Pharma and Big (donor) Tech. Skepticism is warranted when CEOs and Senators hold hands and write laws that force big profits through coerced vaccination programs. Anger and rebellion is warranted when those same vaccinations are killing the young and healthy via sudden heart attacks. Until those in the medical profession that pushed these measures are held to account, there will be no ‘forgiveness’.
Maxine Waters blowing kisses to Sam Bankman-Fried while trying to shield him from questioning. Perhaps RFK Jr. can steer the Democrats away from the corruption that currently consumes them – and we’ll be better for it.
Well said, Apu!
Apu. Kennedy NEVER was a representative of the Democratic party. And not really a representative of the Republicans either. He’s like a fly on Vice President Pence’s coif – a valueless distraction.
Love his voice, though.
I support RFK. I’m excited about him!
Key is “past Trump supporters”
JFKjr is big on ending the corruption and going after the clot shot makers and enablers. Biden supporters don’t care about that. Former Trump supporters do. Not that Trump had a chance of winning in the first place, but this will make it even harder.
RFK Jr is a very real threat – folks are just disgusted enough to listen to the media swan song that is sure to follow soon… Anything but Trump! Jr is a slimy opportunistic poser who is hiding his leftist wokism. His packaging is solely to steal votes from the GOP – it is a gamble, but who else do the demrats have that might be electable? BEWARE.
I think he exists to steal votes from the democrats.
Trump 2024 to serve as the 19th President! But, I hope that RFK Jr knocks any demonrat off the ticket.
The 19th President was Rutherford B Hayes.
The United States as we know it is a corporation that was established in 1871 according to history. (‘https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/when-the-united-states-became-a-corporation/) The founding fathers did not establish this corporation in 1776. If the corporation is shut down, then our next president should be the president of the country that was established in 1776 and would be the 19th president.
Please stop making conservatives look stupid by spreading this ridiculous theory. The Act you reference was a law granting home-rule authority over certain issues to the (newly-created) District of Columbia government; until that point all matters regarding the District were under the direct control of Congress.
Whatever.
I would suspect that much of RFK’s support, and indeed Trump’s past support, is coming from the largest voting bloc in the nation that is comprised of non-partisan individuals. They are not necessarily voting for someone, but more likely voting AGAINST the rotten Uniparty that is systematically destroying the United States.
Any chance that RFK2 could find a ventriloquist with a good voice? His numbers would get past Joe.
Larry Bird,
What comes out of Joe’s mouth isn’t much to get excited about either. Sleazy Joe and RFK Jr. at a debate contest? It would be like going into an Alzheimer’s ward and listening to a couple guys trying to discuss nuclear physics.
Maybe he’ll get SS protection now that he is drawing from GOP voters & helping the Dems.
Trump supporters see character, love of truth and solidarity with the US Constitution in Robert Kennedy Jr. They will vote only for President Trump the Constitutionalist for US President but will be happy to have Robert Kennedy Jr. somewhere in the cabinet I believe.
RFKjr recently announced his support for reparations for descendants of slaves. After a storm of criticism, he quietly revised his “position”.
He’s just another whacko with too much money and one or two good ideas (Vivek, anyone?). But in reality there’s no there there.
Who doesn’t think he’ll eventually sell out to whichever interest group will deliver the most votes?
As for the unique voice in American politics, as the Beatles sang, “money can’t buy me love”.
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