WATERTOWN, Wis. — The Wisconsin Election Commission's decision to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the state's electoral rolls may have followed the letter of state law, but its spirit was highly partisan.
Just minutes before Democratic Campaign Committee Chairwoman Ann Jacobs argued that RFK Jr. must remain on the ballot despite his request to remove him, she fought to remove all eligible third parties from the ballot in an unprecedented interpretation of state and Democratic National Committee law.
The goal, of course, was to remove from the ballot the Green Party's Jill Stein, whose 30,000 votes were blamed for Hillary Clinton's loss in Wisconsin in the 2016 election.
Stein's August poll showed her with just 1% of the vote, but that was enough to swing the presidential election in the Badger State, while statewide polls showed Kennedy with a whopping 8%.
Given that anti-vaccination supporters of former President Kennedy have supported him, public opinion is that Kennedy's supporters will likely support Trump this fall.
When third-party candidates are included in the Wisconsin polls, Trump is trailing Harris by 2 percentage points, a margin that is usually just 1 percentage point.
While it's up for debate how Trump will fare in battleground states, some of RFK Jr.'s supporters have revealed their voting plans to The Washington Post.
SM is a college student in Milwaukee who normally doesn't vote Democratic, but was very impressed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s “great ideas” and “clear” message.
“Bobby never had a chance,” SM told The Washington Post, outraged by the Democratic Party's hypocrisy. “Harris didn't win the primary. They just threw Kamala in there. This isn't democracy. This is tyranny.”
The 27-year-old said she has some reservations about Trump but will probably vote for him.
Dr. Tamika Johnson, 46, an educator from Milwaukee, had planned to vote for Kennedy but changed her mind after RFK Jr. endorsed Trump and ended her own presidential bid.
“I don't support [RFK] “I will be voting for the Libertarian Party,” Dr. Johnson told The Post. “I am pleased that RFK's true nature and aims have been revealed. RFK is a status enthusiast and appears to be primarily looking out for his own interests. That is why I am withdrawing my support for him.”
Erica, a 38-year-old artist and real estate investor, plans to vote for Kennedy in November, though she's not yet sure which way to vote in what is a volatile election year.
“I will not be voting for Kamala under any circumstances,” she told The Washington Post. Erica had voted “liberal Democrat” for most of her adult life, but the party's treatment of Bernie Sanders in 2016 made her realize “my values no longer aligned with the Democratic Party.”
The Watertown, Wisconsin resident wants to help the “We the People” party reach the 5 percent vote threshold to receive public funding, and vote on the issues that matter most to her, including “children's health, the chronic disease epidemic, free speech and the environment.”
Joe Handrick, an election analyst who closely monitors Wisconsin election data, believes Trump could pick up a small but significant amount of support from RFK Jr.'s supporters in the state.
“I think there certainly is a difference,” Handrick told The Post. “If he gets 4 or 5 percent, how is that going to be distributed?”
Handrick estimated that if Kennedy were to appear on the Wisconsin ballot, half of the environmental lawyer's supporters would still check his ballot instead of backing one of the party's two leading candidates.
So what happens to the other half of RFK Jr.'s supporters?
Handrick projects Trump will win 60% of Kennedy's remaining votes and Harris will win 40%, with the current Wisconsin polling average giving Harris a 1.4% lead.
That's in line with a RealClearPolitics polling average from late August, which had Harris at +1.4 in the state.
