RFK Jr.’s coalition spans the political spectrum. That could have consequences in November

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.

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 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. They are representative of Kennedy’s coalition of voters, which spans the political spectrum and has grown large enough to potentially alter the 2024 presidential race. 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. Stenbroten, who describes himself as an “independent-leaning conservative,” didn’t vote for president in 2016, but he cast his ballot in 2020 for Trump, whom he considered the “better of two evils.” Though the choice between the two major-party candidates remains the same this year, the Cedarburg resident doesn’t think Trump has the same appeal to independently minded voters this time around.