Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Election Choice Would Be a Gift to Donald Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropping out of the presidential race could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of beating Donald Trump, according to recent polls.
Harris has gained ground against Trump in recent weeks, and her candidacy continues to generate new enthusiasm among Democrats after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July. Polls suggest a close race in the crucial swing states that will determine the outcome of the presidential race. Kennedy, an independent who previously ran as a Democrat, is on the ballot in 19 states.
However, on Tuesday his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, indicated Kennedy could leave the race amid concerns his candidacy creates a disadvantage for Trump. Shanahan told Los Angeles media company Impact Theory that the campaign could “walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump,” according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, in a post to X (formerly Twitter), Kennedy wrote that he is “willing to talk with leaders of any political party to further the goals I have served for 40 years in my career and in this campaign.”
“These are: reversing the chronic disease epidemic, ending the war machine, cleaning corporate influence out of government and toxic pollution out of the environment, protecting freedom of speech, and ending politicization of enforcement agencies,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy campaign referred to this post when reached by Newsweek for comment. Newsweek also reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns via email for comment.
Recent polls suggest that if Kennedy decides to exit the race, more of his voters would back Trump than Harris. His support has dropped into the single digits in many recent polls, but the last two presidential elections have been decided by a relatively small number of votes in a handful of states.
A recent poll from The New York Times and Siena College, which questioned voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, found that more of Kennedy’s voters would back Trump, compared with Harris.
In that survey, 41 percent of Kennedy’s voters said they would back Trump, while 27 percent said they would vote for Harris when pressed about who they would vote for in a two-way race. An additional 33 percent said they weren’t sure who they’d support.
The poll surveyed 1,973 registered voters across the three states from August 5 to 9.
The New York Times’ aggregate of polls suggests that Kennedy is siphoning support from Trump rather than Harris. In a two-way race, Harris leads Trump by 2 points (49 percent to 47 percent) in the average.
But when Kennedy is included, he wins 4 percent of support. Harris’ lead shrunk to a single point over Trump (46 percent to 45 percent), according to the aggregate.
An Emerson College poll also found that most of Kennedy’s voters would back Trump over Harris. When asked about a two-way race, about 64 percent of his supporters said they would back Trump, while 36 percent said they would vote for the vice president.
A recent ActiVote poll similarly showed that Kennedy won slightly more Trump than Harris voters. The poll, conducted from July 30 to August 6 among 1,000 likely voters, found that Trump lost 5.6 percent of his voters to Kennedy, while Harris lost 4.9 percent of her voters in a three-way race.
Kennedy initially entered the race as a Democrat challenging Biden for the nomination but later changed his party affiliation to independent. He has sought to appeal to more centrist voters but has faced criticism for his views on vaccines, among other issues.
The 19 states where he made the ballot include the crucial swing states of Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.