What to Make of Those Alarming RFK Jr. Polls

In an effort to contextualize just how poorly things have gone for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential aspirations of late, CNN wrote about how he’s faring no better against Trump than a protest candidate is against President Joe Biden.

“Things have gotten so bad for DeSantis that a recent Fox News poll shows him at 21%,” CNN said, “comparable with the 19% that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety, is receiving on the Democratic side.”

Now: Are you all thinking what I’m thinking? Because there’s an eye-catching number in that sentence, and it’s not related to Ron DeSantis.

Kennedy officially launched his Democratic primary bid on April 19, after a month or two of making noise about it. In an April 9 Morning Consult poll, 10 percent of those surveyed said they would support Kennedy for the Democratic presidential nomination. The day of Kennedy’s launch, a USA Today/Suffolk poll had Kennedy at 14 percent. The Fox News poll released April 26, referenced by CNN, showed Kennedy at 19 percent. Kennedy was at 21 percent in an April 27 Emerson College poll.