Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s withdrawal from the presidential race could damage Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of defeating Donald Trump, according to recent polls.
Harris has gained ground on Trump in recent weeks, and her candidacy continues to generate renewed enthusiasm among Democrats after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July. Polls point to a close race in the crucial swing states that will determine the outcome of the presidential election. Kennedy, an independent who previously ran as a Democrat, is on the ballot in 19 states.
On Tuesday, however, his running mate Nicole Shanahan suggested Kennedy might drop out of the race over concerns his candidacy would put Trump at a disadvantage. Shanahan told Los Angeles-based media outlet Impact Theory that the campaign team could “drop out immediately and join forces with Donald Trump,” Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, Kennedy wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “willing to speak with the leaders of any political party to advance the goals I have championed throughout my 40-year career and in this campaign.”
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“They are: reversing the chronic disease epidemic, ending the war machine, eliminating corporate influence in government and toxic pollution of the environment, protecting free speech and ending the politicization of law enforcement,” he said.
A spokesman for the Kennedy campaign referred to this article when he Newsweek for a comment. Newsweek also emailed Harris and Trump’s campaign teams for comment.
Recent polls suggest that if Kennedy decides to drop out of the race, more of his voters would support Trump than Harris. In many recent polls, his support has dropped to single digits, but the last two presidential elections were decided by a relatively small number of votes in a handful of states.
A recent survey by The New York Times and Siena College, which surveyed voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, found that more of Kennedy’s voters would support Trump than Harris.
In that poll, 41 percent of Kennedy voters said they would support Trump, while 27 percent said they would vote for Harris if pressed about who they would choose in a two-way race. Another 33 percent said they weren’t sure who they would support.
The survey was conducted between August 5 and 9 among 1,973 registered voters in all three states.
The New York Times‘ The polls as a whole suggest that Kennedy is more likely to draw support from Trump than Harris. In a head-to-head race, Harris is on average 2 percentage points ahead of Trump (49 percent to 47 percent).
However, if you include Kennedy, he gets 4 percent of the vote. Harris’ lead over Trump shrank to a single percentage point (46 percent to 45 percent), according to the overall results.
An Emerson College poll also found that most Kennedy voters would prefer Trump over Harris. When asked about a two-way race, about 64 percent of his supporters said they would support Trump, while 36 percent said they would vote for the vice president.
A recent ActiVote poll also found that Kennedy gained slightly more Trump voters 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 and challenged Biden for the nomination, but later changed his party affiliation and became an independent. He tried to appeal to more centrist voters but faced criticism for his views on vaccines, among other things.
The 19 states in which he ran include the crucial swing states of Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
