2020 election repeated?

 

    Although the primary choice of both the Democratic party and Republican party are virtually set in stone, there are still many candidates who are still in the race with the hopes of having their names on the ballot. On the Republican side, Nikki Haley has yet to concede her bid for the presidency and is still actively trying to obtain the Republican nomination. Former Democratic candidate and now independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. similarly is fighting an uphill battle, and the media presents these underdogs in a different light.

    Despite trailing Trump's massive lead as the hopeful Republican nominee in the 2024 election, Jazmine Ulloa contends that "Nikki Haley isn’t going anywhere" (Ulloa 2024). Haley has supposedly been behind closed doors preaching the message to her wealthy donors that she will not back down from Trump and still has a viable shot as the Republican nominee. According to Ulloa, many of the politicians who "publicly embrace Trump privately dread him," and it is the dissonance between the public acceptance of Trump and private disliking is what can pave the way for a Haley nomination.

    Robert Kennedy Jr., however, is presented in a different way despite trailing in an equal way to Haley. Jessica Piper and Zach Montellaro present RFK Jr.'s campaign as a "Cash Crunch" claiming that his campaign is virtually over due to the fact that RFK Jr. is "burning through his cash" (Piper and Montellaro 2024). Despite the incessant spending, Montellaro and Piper do acknowledge the impact of RFK jr.'s super PACs who are continuing to fund his campaign. 

    Despite both RFK jr. and Nicki Haley being underdogs, Nicki Haley is presented to have some capacity to become the Republican nominee while RFK jr.'s campaign is presented as a lost cause and a waste of money.

References:

Piper, Jessica, and Zach Montellaro. “RFK Jr.’s Cash Crunch: Independent Spent More than He Raised in January.” POLITICO, www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/rfk-jr-fundraising-january-00142238. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.

Ulloa, Jazmine. “Election Updates: Haley Says She Is Not Dropping out and Doesn’t Fear ‘Trump’s Retribution.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2024, www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/20/us/trump-haley-biden-election.