In Wisconsin, a 62-year-old tree farm owner who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and a 22-year-old who cast her first presidential vote for Joe Biden that same year share one major thing in common now – they’re both planning to vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this fall. And though neither of the Badger State residents has volunteered for a presidential campaign before, Dale Stenbroten and Katie Zimmerman spend their weekends trying to convince others to find the same inspiration in the independent candidate that they do. Stenbroten, a self-proclaimed independent-leaning conservative, told CNN he encourages his friends to look up videos of Kennedy and listen to what he has to say. “You’re not going to agree on everything he says, but the important issues are there, and he’s going to deal with them,” he said.
These supporters – who say they’re drawn to Kennedy because of his stances on key issues and his rebuke of mainstream political parties – could have the greatest impact by tipping the balance in battleground states like Wisconsin, which has been decided by narrow margins in recent cycles. Zimmerman, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discovered Kennedy on YouTube and was instantly inspired. “He talked a lot about how he wanted to unite America and bring people together, instead of further divide them, and that’s something that means a lot to me, personally,” she said.
Marco Cordero, a 22-year-old from Bayview, also cast his first presidential vote for Biden but has since soured on the Democrat, citing inflation rates and conflicts in the Middle East. “I think he focuses more on the middle class,” Cordero said of Kennedy, listing national debt, affordable housing and student loans as issues where the independent appeals to voters like him.
It’s unclear whether Kennedy’s presence in the race would have a greater impact on Biden or Trump, but polling data indicates Kennedy’s largest contingent of voters could be those who didn’t support either candidate in 2020. Douglas DeNicola, a lifelong Democratic voter, thinks Kennedy is bridging the gap between the parties. “This division that we have can only be solved if one of those two men are not president, because a Biden voter will never vote for Trump and a Trump voter will never vote for Biden,” he said.
While Kennedy’s outsider campaign faces long odds of winning the White House, his core supporters bristle at the attacks issued by both Democrats and Republicans that the independent is a spoiler without a clear path to victory. They’re realistic about the path ahead for Kennedy but believe the candidate who best represents their values deserves their vote.
Many Kennedy voters see his campaign as operating from the political center, bridging divides between Democrats and Republicans. A CNN national poll released in April found 60% of Kennedy supporters identify as politically moderate, with 28% identifying as conservative compared with 12% of those identifying as liberal. A sizable contingent of Kennedy’s support comes from so-called double-haters – those holding an unfavorable view of both Biden and Trump, and those who are broadly frustrated with the two-party system and see Kennedy as an outsider who can shake up Washington.
CNN spoke with many Kennedy supporters who said they first became aware of him through his criticism of policies enacted by the Trump and Biden administrations in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Some said they began following him through his anti-vaccine advocacy with Children’s Health Defense, a leading spreader of misinformation about vaccines. They dismissed criticisms of his stance on vaccines and Covid-era policies by arguing Kennedy is focused on improving the nation’s health.
Stenbroten said he shares Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism, though he doesn’t agree with all of the candidate’s views.
