2024 Candidates: Can Robert F Kennedy Jr. Challenge Biden For Dem Nomination?

An Emerson College poll from April found 21% of Democrats support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Does he pose a threat to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign? 

A Democratic Populist: Matt Lewis labeled Kennedy an “imbecile with no real qualifications” and deemed his past work as an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic to be “idiot activism.” Lewis compared Kennedy’s early polling to Donald Trump’s unexpected success in 2016 to state, “Trump has already taken over the GOP. What happens if the Democratic Party also falls to the siren call of the populist zeitgeist?”

“A Dream Deferred”: An opinion piece in Newsmax said Kennedy’s early polling numbers are a “symptom of the party's unease about Biden.” The article characterizes Kennedy as representative of a “dream deferred” for Irish Catholic Americans that overlaps with Biden’s central image, concluding that “The Kennedy name, Biden's weakness and the profound distrust millions of Americans feel toward institutions such as the CIA, the media and the pharmaceutical companies will make RFK Jr. formidable.”

“Four Grueling Years”: An opinion piece in Salon outlined potential factors leading to Kennedy’s support among Democrats. The article states his name recognition is “good enough to spot you a dozen polling points or so,” and cites polls showing a “supermajority of Americans” do not want Biden to run in 2024, determining, “Democrats shouldn’t underestimate the amount of work it’s going to take to prove to the country—to its own party’s voters—that Biden has another four grueling years in him.”