The independent candidate looms as a serious drag on Biden’s Latino support in Arizona and Nevada.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s popularity appears to be a function of name recognition and a general lack of enthusiasm for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. | Richard Vogel/AP
To date, Kennedy is officially on the November ballot in just one state: Utah. But his campaign and an allied super PAC, American Values 2024, announced in the last month they have collected more than enough signatures to make the ballot in the critical Southwestern battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, where roughly one in five voters are Latino.
“Kennedy is a golden name in Democratic politics and any support he derives comes almost totally at the expense of Biden,” Fernand Amandi, Obama’s Hispanic pollster for both of his campaigns, toldState Facebook groups have popped up in Arizona and Nevada, where they discuss topics like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vice presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan , and ballot access strategy. | Eric Risberg/AP
But while Latinos were largely responsible for Biden sweeping the Southwest four years ago, the 2024 election has been marked by an encroaching sense of fear among Democrats due to Biden’s lack of popularity and enduring soft support among Hispanics thus far. Kennedy’s call to revamp health care in America towards chronic diseases and to make Americans healthier in general gives Hernandez hope.
“In my head, I think he could be the next step to making America great again,” Gonzales said, adding that frustration over health care was a driver of her support of Kennedy. Barreto added that Kennedy “doesn’t have any stronger appeal with Latinos” than he has overall, or any connection with the Latino community “aside from the Kennedy name.”
Noah Herrera, a 55-year-old in the Las Vegas real estate industry, is the kind of voter Democrats worry about losing to Kennedy. A 2020 Biden supporter, he is now the vice chair of the Coalition of Independent Nevadans, a nonpartisan group designed to provide a neutral platform to nonpartisan voters to participate in the political process. He said he voted for Obama and Trump before Biden but is now open to Kennedy’s candidacy.
Susie Garcia, the director of Las Colibrí, an all-female mariachi ensemble that specializes in educational programming and performed at the Viva Kennedy launch, exemplified how more than half a century later, the Kennedy family history with Chavez still has allure. Yet anger from the Chavez family boiled over ahead of the event, rooted in resentment of Kennedy’s efforts to tie his campaign to the late labor leader. Chavez family members endorsed Biden on the eve of the Viva Kennedy launch in an attempt to diminish the event, in part because they believe Chavez had far different views on immigration than Kennedy.. “Making sure immigrants who came across were legal — he saw illegal immigration as a big issue in the last decade of his life.
“The United Farm Workers will always appreciate the support, friendship and leadership that generations of the Kennedy family have offered the farm worker movement,” spokesperson Antonio De Loera-Brust said. “The UFW proudly endorses President Biden for re-election in 2024. The president has consistently fought for farm worker rights, including by ensuring farm workers had equitable access to the Covid-19 vaccine.”yet started ringing over the threat posed by Kennedy’s candidacy.
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