Contrarian or crank? The zeitgeisty campaign of RFK Jr.

Until recently, George Stuscavage didn’t know much about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He knew Mr. Kennedy was skeptical of vaccines and that a lot of people disagreed with him. But Mr. Stuscavage, a retired bowling center manager from North Port, Florida, didn’t really have strong opinions on vaccines. 

Then the pandemic happened, with its mandated lockdowns and public health orders. Mr. Stuscavage found himself increasingly doubting the advice and motives of those in authority, who seemed intent on shutting down any form of dissent.

So when Mr. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination in April – vowing to end the “corrupt merger of state and corporate power” that, he said, was threatening to “poison our children and our people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs, to strip-mine our assets, to hollow out the middle class and keep us in a constant state of war” – Mr. Stuscavage was captivated. Since then, he estimates he’s spent more than 100 hours listening to Mr. Kennedy’s appearances on various podcasts.

To the surprise of many political strategists and pollsters, Mr. Stuscavage is far from alone. In a number of highly rated June polls, Mr. Kennedy was found to have double-digit support among voters, with, in some cases, close to 1 in 5 Democratic voters favoring him over incumbent President Joe Biden.