President Joe Biden announced in April that he intends to run for reelection in 2024 but may not run unopposed as many in his party are concerned about his ability to handle a second term.
Key Details
- RealClearPolitics’ most recent polling shows President Biden has an approval rating of 41.8% and disapproval of 56.1%.
- A May study from Echelon Insights found 44% of respondents have a high view of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compared to 40% for President Biden and 37% for Vice President Kamala Harris.
- 58% of respondents have a negative view of Biden, while 22% have a negative view of Kennedy.
- Kennedy may have the highest approval rating of any presidential candidate in this election cycle, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman tweeted on Wednesday urging JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to run as a Democrat.
- Biden is also facing a primary challenge from 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
Why It’s Important
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy Jr. and has earned a public reputation as an eccentric environmentalist and vaccine skeptic. His family’s name recognition has heavily boosted his approval. However, his relative popularity compared to the sitting president speaks to other anxieties facing the public.
JPMorgan’s Dimon carries formidable popularity and respect and would attract the support of business-minded Democrats or moderate Republicans. While he is a long shot with no political experience, his possible entry into the race suggests that there is a great deal of concern among Democrats about the ability of Biden to handle a second term.
From President Biden’s mental acuity to his controversial economic decisions, Democratic voters may be eager to show their disapproval of the sitting president and his leadership capabilities. Kennedy has focused his campaign on anti-war sentiments and civil liberties concerns.
It remains unlikely that Kennedy, Williamson, or Dimon will be able to upset the incumbent president successfully. Incumbents always have an advantage in election cycles, and the divided vote between three or four candidates dilutes the votes of aggrieved Democrats in the primaries. However, low Democratic approval could see one of these candidates make serious inroads against Biden.
Backing Up A Bit
The Republican Party is facing an even more crowded field. Former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, businessmen Vivek Ramaswamy and Ryan Binkley, pundit Larry Elder, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and politician Perry Johnson have declared their candidacies, and former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce his own campaign next week.
The current frontrunners are Trump and DeSantis. However, Trump’s loyal supporter base may prove resilient enough to power through a crowded field and turn the 2024 presidential election into a repeat of 2020—President Donald Trump versus President Joe Biden. But it is too early to tell.
Notable Quote
“I feel like I am losing my country. I feel like my party has gone off the rails,” Robert Kennedy told CBS 8 in a recent interview. “The most important way for us to honor the men and women who gave their lives for our country is to protect the rights that they died to give us. [The Democratic Party has] become the party of war, and [it] was always skeptical about war. It’s become the party of censorship, which is antithetical to the definition and tradition of liberalism … The COVID lockdown… what they supported was a war on the poor, a war on minorities… this country really suffered deeply during that period.”
