Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The same coalition of groups that drove center-right group No Labels to abandon its efforts to run a 2024 presidential candidate has now identified its next target: Anti-vaccine activist-turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
According to Politico, a collection of outside groups and super PACs are now mobilizing to educate a specific subset of voters about RFK Jr. through a coordinated information campaign. Matt Bennett, who is president of the center-left group Third Way, said they're specifically zeroing in on younger voters they call "double haters," who dislike both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. And they're specifically aiming to engage with voters in swing states where the son of celebrated former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has met qualifications for ballot access. This includes Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina. RFK Jr. has also qualified for ballots in California, Nebraska and Utah, though those states are seen as less competitive.
"One of our biggest concerns is ensuring that this subset of voters absolutely positively understands who this person is and who he is not," Bennett said.
"He is not his father. His numbers reflect his dad’s popularity," he added. "He is a right-wing crank. People really do not understand that yet."
Democratic-aligned group MoveOn, which has 10 million members on its list, has shifted resources aimed at stopping No Labels toward its anti-RFK Jr. campaign. Another group taking part in the effort is Clear Choice, which is a super PAC focusing on driving down voter turnout for third-party candidates like RFK Jr., along with Jill Stein and Cornel West, who are running on the Green Party and independent ballot lines, respectively. Pro-Democratic super PACs Future Forward and American Bridge have also joined in on the campaign.
The groups are running on the message that, according to a League of Conservation Voters (LCV) official, "a vote for RFK is a vote for Donald Trump." LCV senior vice president of campaigns Pete Maysmith told Politico that he wants to reach out to "voters who aren’t paying full attention yet and reminding them that "voting for Kennedy is throwing your vote away."
"What we’re seeing so far is that when voters hear even just a little about his extreme positions, they are a lot less interested," Maysmith said.
However, Democrats aren't the only ones who want to turn voters away from RFK Jr., In April, a Quinnipiac poll showed that former President Trump's narrow lead over President Joe Biden grows when RFK Jr.'s name is removed from consideration. After that poll was released, Trump tore into the environmentalist-turned-conspiracy theorist and alleged he was only running to help Biden.
"His Views on Vaccines are FAKE, as is everything else about his Candidacy," Trump said. "Let the Democrats have RFK Jr. They deserve him!"
As for RFK Jr.'s campaign, his New York state director, Rita Palma (who previously canvassed for Trump in 2016 and 2020), previously suggested that their main goal wasn't to win, but to "get rid of Biden" and "block Biden from winning the presidency."
"Two hundred seventy [Electoral College votes] wins the election," Palma said in April. "If nobody gets to 270 then Congress picks the president, so who are they gonna pick if it's a Republican Congress? They'll pick Trump, so we're rid of Biden either way."
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
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