RFK Jr. Wins Surge In Republican Support: Poll

Republicans have shown a higher level of favorability to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump on August 23.
A YouGov poll from August 25-27 shows that since his endorsement of the former president, 68 percent of Republican respondents said they view him favorably or somewhat favorably, while only 17 percent of Democrats said the same.
Prior to his exiting the race, these figures weren’t as divisive — 51 percent of Republicans and 25 percent of Democrats showed support for Kennedy Jr. between August 17 and August 20, according to a YouGov survey.
Among all registered voters, 42 percent now view Kennedy favorably while 48 percent view him unfavorably.
During a news conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 23, Kennedy Jr. announced he would be having his name stricken off the ballot in 10 states, however his name won’t be taken off in Michigan and Wisconsin.
He said, “In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started the process,” according to Sky News.
Giving his reasoning, he added, “In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control. So I cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House,” CNN reported.
Prior to his withdrawal on August 12, a New York judge deemed his petition to be on the ballot in the state as invalid as he was determined to have lied about residing in the state. The former candidate has since appealed the ruling, despite already having withdrawn his name from the ballot in other states.
In July, Nevada authorities also sued him, saying that he violated Nevada’s legal requirement for independent presidential candidates.
Kennedy Jr. said in a Fox News interview that the Democrats had been “trying to get me off the ballot in every state,” and had been widely criticizing the party for “dramatically” shifting away from the “core values” he grew up with, according to Sky News.
After announcing the suspension of his presidential run as an independent in a number of swing states, the former Democrat endorsed the Republican nominee at the Arizona news conference.
He said, “Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump.”
He later appeared at Trump’s rally in Phoenix. Trump has also said he’d be open to giving Kennedy Jr. a role in his administration were he to win, CNN reported.
His family has since spoken out against the endorsement, saying in a statement, “Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” per a Sky News report.
Newsweek has contacted the campaigns of RFK Jr. and Trump for comment.
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