YouGov Poll shows Robert F. Kennedy Jr Presidential candidacy surging
Poll: Majority of Americans Support RFK Jr. Running as an Independent; Democratic National Committee working to undermine democracy by blocking independent candidates.Kennedy gets 17% vs Biden and Trump, draws equally from both.
The Democratic Party has rigged its primary against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., but a new poll shows that a large majority of Americans support him leaving the Democratic Party and running as an independent.
Commissioned by the People’s Party and conducted by YouGov from September 15-18, the poll finds that 63% of Americans support an independent run.
The question states: “The DNC is rigging the Democratic Party primary against presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Would you support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. leaving the Democratic Party and running as an independent instead?”
A second question in the poll shows that an independent RFK Jr. starts with 17% against Biden and Trump. The poll assumes that the most popular candidate in each party is nominated.
The poll shows that Kennedy has even more support among the general electorate than he has in the Democratic primary, where he’s averaging 15%. It’s unprecedented for a candidate to have more support among Americans than they do in their own party. Polling at 17% would qualify him to participate in the general election debates if the major parties used the traditional 15% threshold.
Remarkably, the same general election matchup without RFK Jr. shows that he draws equally from Biden and Trump, allowing him to unite Americans of various ideologies and parties as he gains support.
Drawing equally from Democrats and Republicans makes it harder for them to label Kennedy as a spoiler to either side, encouraging millions of voters who are fed up with their party on both sides to support him instead.
A second poll commissioned by the People’s Party and conducted by YouGov from June 9-15, 2022, found that Americans have an overwhelmingly favorable impression of independents. It was the most popular term among those polled. This reinforces the idea that running on issues over labels allows you to unite the broadest coalition.
In contrast, Americans have strongly unfavorable views of the Democratic and Republican parties. Independent has a net favorability of +44 while the Democratic Party has a net favorability of -15 and the Republican Party has a net favorability of -19.
In addition, the latest party affiliation poll by Gallup, conducted from August 1-23, 2023, found that almost half the country is already independent, while only about a quarter are Democrats and Republicans each.
The number of independents has risen over the last two decades as people have lost confidence in the establishment parties and millions have left them. The result is an ocean of independents with no political home. Running as an independent makes it easier to unite the support of the large plurality who already describe themselves as independents. It’s also a statement that you are uncontrolled by special interests.
A Harvard Harris poll conducted in April 2022 found that most Americans are open to an independent candidate taking on Biden and Trump.
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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