A majority of likely voters said former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of former President Trump doesn’t change their view of the GOP nominee, according to a national poll released Thursday.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that 64 percent of likely voters said Kennedy’s backing of Trump does not influence their view of the 45th president. Nearly one-fifth of respondents, 19 percent, said the endorsement, which became official last week, made them think “more favorably” of the former president, the survey found. Around 15 percent of respondents said it made them think “less favorably” of Trump.
The poll found that 42 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Kennedy. Around 32 percent had a favorable view of the environmental lawyer while 24 percent said they did not hear enough about the former White House candidate, according to the survey.
“RFK Jr. – his own presidential prospects in a nosedive – bounces to Donald Trump’s camp,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said. “But is he an asset or a liability? Independents, so critical to the outcome of the race, aren’t exactly swayed by him to change their views about Trump.”
Kennedy, who initially kicked off his White House run as a Democrat, left the party to pursue an independent bid in October. He garnered some traction in the polls, reaching high teens in some national surveys. Recently, those numbers dipped to single digits.
The environmental lawyer suspended his presidential run last week and threw his support behind Trump. Kennedy said he would try to get his name off the ballot in battleground states where he could be the difference-maker come November. He said he would remain on the ballot in the majority of blue and red states.
Some key swing states, like Michigan and Wisconsin, declined to remove the former independent White House contender from their general election ballots this November.
The poll was conducted Aug. 23-27 among 1,611 likely voters. The margin of error was 2.4 percentage points.