Ex-Bernie Sanders Pollster Worried About RFK Jr.’s Appeal Among Crucial Voters

A Democrat warns that the independent could siphon crucial support from Biden.

Share full article

April 19, 2024, 6:03 p.m. ET

Happy Friday! Today, we’re looking at younger voters and other demographic groups who are generally crucial for Democratic victories in presidential elections — but who may back other candidates or sit out this year’s election in greater numbers than usual. I’ve asked my colleague Shane Goldmacher to kick things off. — Jess Bidgood

Image

Ben Tulchin, a Democratic pollster, says he is “raising the alarm” about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Credit…Jim Wilson/The New York Times

The ex-Bernie Sanders pollster raising alarms about R.F.K. Jr.’s appeal among Latinos and young voters

By Shane Goldmacher

Like many of his fellow Democrats, Ben Tulchin, a former pollster for Senator Bernie Sanders, is worried about President Biden’s chances against Donald Trump this fall. And like many Democrats, he is nervous about Biden’s current level of support among some core Democratic constituencies.

But Tulchin is warning any Democrat who will listen about one particular thing they might not have thought of: the possibility that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will wind up siphoning off two traditionally Democratic voting groups — Latinos and younger voters — this fall.

He’s so worried that he paid for his own polling in two key battlegrounds, Arizona and Pennsylvania, which showed Kennedy drawing some of those voters away from Biden. He recently presented those findings to a consortium of Democratic groups and super PACs.

“I’m raising the alarm,” Tulchin said in an interview.

Tulchin’s concern is basically this: Latinos and younger voters, who flocked to Sanders, an independent, in the 2020 Democratic primary, were never that into Biden in the first place. Sure, they sided strongly with Biden in the general election. But, as Tulchin put it, “they weren’t enthused.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.