PHOENIX – Some voted for Donald Trump, others for Joe Biden. Some people never wanted anything to do with politics before they heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on podcasts or YouTube videos.
Lined up outside a Phoenix wedding hall nestled between freeways, railroad tracks and a U-Haul rental center, the hundreds of people who showed up Wednesday to hear Kennedy speak shared little in common ideologically. What unites them is a deep distrust – of the media, corporations and especially the government – and the belief that Kennedy is the only person in politics willing to tell them the truth.
“I like that he talks to us like adults,” said Gilbert Limon, a 48-year-old pharmacist from Phoenix. “He tells you most of what you need to know. Whereas I feel like (other politicians) are just giving you a little bit to try to fit their agenda. I’ve had enough of that.”
Voters aren’t enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, and alternatives like Kennedy or the No Labels third-party movement, which are usually longshots, see an opening. Kennedy’s appearance in the 2024 battleground states highlights how he could influence elections in ways that are hard to predict. Allies of both Trump and Biden have expressed concern that Kennedy’s independent bid could draw votes away from their candidates in an expected general election rematch next year.
Candidates from outside the Republican and Democratic parties rarely make a splash, if they can get on the ballot to begin with. But third-party candidates typically don’t carry a famous family name like Kennedy, or his existing network of supporters.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at a voter rally, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, in Phoenix. AP
Kennedy made the stopover in Phoenix as part of his hard-fought bid to gain access to the 2024 presidential ballot as an independent candidate, which he said would require him to collect at least a million signatures across the country. The assistant mingled in the crowd, filling out her petition to qualify in Arizona.
Ballot access for independent candidates and minor parties is an expensive and complicated process, with each state setting its own rules. Campaigns typically hire people to collect signatures and often need a small team of lawyers to challenge access rules and fight others who try to keep candidates off the ballot.
American Values 2024, the super PAC that supports Kennedy, has pledged to spend $15 million to help him get votes in 10 states. Kennedy secured victory in Utah, where the lieutenant governor pushed back the deadline to qualify from January to March after Kennedy filed suit.
Kennedy was a member of one of the Democratic Party’s most famous families — his father was attorney general for his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. But he has recently developed closer ties to the far right, where his conspiratorial and isolationist views are at home.
Enriqueta Porras, a 52-year-old physician from Phoenix, voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Trump in 2020. She said she knew nothing about the third-party conundrum. He wants to vote for someone he trusts, like Kennedy, but also wants to make sure Biden loses and can vote strategically.
“I don’t want to be that person,” Porras said, “but I think there’s a lot at stake and that might have to happen.”
One of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine activists, Kennedy has long had a loyal following of people who reject the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and effective, and they formed the backbone of his presidential campaign.
Christian Ortez waits in line to enter a voter rally for Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, in Phoenix. AP
An organization founded by Kennedy, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a pending lawsuit against several news organizations, including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking actions to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.
Rigorous studies and real-world evidence from hundreds of millions of injections administered prove that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective. Deaths caused by vaccination are very rare and the risks associated with not getting vaccinated are far greater than the risks of vaccination.
Among the dozen Kennedy supporters who spoke to the AP in Phoenix, many shared his view that corporations, especially drug companies, wield too much power.
Debra Sheetz first paid attention to Kennedy when she was doing her own research on the COVID-19 vaccination.
“I’ve been hearing it for the last few years,” he said. “I was very interested when he decided to make this big leap into politics because he had a lot of good ideas. He can really speak to things that people really care about.”
Sheetz, 71, voted for Biden in 2020, he said sheepishly, because he found him to have “more balance, more sense” than Trump. But he was disappointed by Biden’s support of pandemic-era restrictions and what he sees as a loss of freedom to speak freely.
“We lost our First Amendment,” said Sheetz, who lives in Ashland, Oregon, but has spent the past few years traveling the country in his RV. “The most important thing is the ability to speak freely and free ideas to share. Another way of looking at things. If you lose that, authoritarianism is there.”
Curt Eastin, a 65-year-old professional trainer from Chandler, a Phoenix suburb, voted for Biden in 2020 but has not voted again. If Kennedy had not run, he would have voted for Trump next year, he said.
“I like that I can trust him. I think he is honest,” he said. “And even if I don’t agree with him, I know he came to an honest conclusion. I can’t trust anyone else.”
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. interact with voters at a voter rally, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, in Phoenix. AP
Kennedy is well aware that his fans are shunning the mainstream media, where reporters often flag the falsity of his vaccine claims, in favor of alternative sources online. He says he gets support mainly from young people but struggles with people in his own generation.
“The problem with baby boomers, I think, is they get their news from MSNBC, Fox and CNN,” he told the crowd in Phoenix, which responded with jeers. “Whereas young people get their news from podcasts and other alternative sources.”
Third-party or independent candidates are rarely successful in presidential contests. Even the most successful recent example, Ross Perot in 1992, did not win a single electoral vote despite winning 19% of the popular vote.
Sometimes, a minor party candidate will get enough votes that partisans will blame them for deciding to pick a popular vote loser, such as Ralph Nader in 2000 or Jill Stein in 2016, both Green Party candidates.
“One of the biggest reasons I like him is because of his stance on partisanship in our House and our Senate, and I like how he wants to try and bring the two back together,” said Michael Chacon, a 23-year-old student in Tempe who has never voted and still unsure if he will vote in 2024. “I think that’s a very good idea. I think the collaboration will continue.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
