"Running on truth," the nephew of America's 35th president has entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democratic challenger to President Biden.
A recent CNN poll of Democratic primary voters shows the environmental lawyer and high-profile vaccine critic has garnered 20% support. 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters said they backed Biden for the top of next year's Democratic ticket.
Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, does not think Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is in the right party.
"There's at least 20% to 40% of the – quote, unquote – 'Democratic base' that is the old Democrat, the old, blue-collar Democrat [with whom] the name Kennedy means a lot," Zawistowski observes. "What they don't understand is that if John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's uncle, were alive today, he wouldn't be in the Democratic Party."
He says Democrats of that era had reasonable America First policies.
"They actually cared about the American people," the conservative recalls. "That's not who the Democrat communists are now. They're the party of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, who in their own documents say their goal is to overthrow America."
So Zawistowski thinks Kennedy is making a mistake.
"He's going to get like 20% of the vote in the primary, but that won't make any difference at all," he predicts "If he really wanted to make a difference, he'd run as an Independent."
And if that were the case, Zawistowski submits it "would guarantee that the Republican would win."
In the Republican field, as expected, former Vice President Mike Pence officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign today, on his 64th birthday.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, points out that many conservative voters remember Pence did little to help Trump during the election challenge on January 6, 2021.
"There's no way Donald Trump won't bring that up in debate," Clark asserts. "There's no way reporters won't ask questions about that. I think it's something that Mike is going to have to give an answer on."
He sees "a lot of land mines out there" for Pence, including the fact that voters do not see him as a hard-nosed fighter.
"They want someone who will go in there, who will fight," says Clark. "Whoever the nominee is, voters are going to have to believe they're a strong fighter, and that's something that all the candidates will have to prove, except for Donald Trump, because he has proven that."
Clark also does not think Pence can convince much of the Republican base that he can advance the MAGA agenda better than Trump.
In an average of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics, Pence is currently polling at just under 4%, in fourth place behind Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also joined the GOP presidential race this week.
