Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he’s ending his campaign and endorsing Donald Trump. Speaking to a crowd of reporters on Friday, the former Democratic turned independent longshot said he is withdrawing his name from the ballot in battleground states, and plans to suspend his campaign activities. In an apparent effort to help Trump and siphon votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris, Kennedy is choosing to remain on the ballot in Democratic-leaning states. Nick Beauchamp, associate professor of political science at Northeastern University, says Kennedy’s endorsement would give the former president a small bump, but one that isn’t likely to make a huge difference — even in such a closely contested race.
“While [Kennedy] might arguably have drawn more of his voters from the Democratic side than the Republican side early in his campaign, even before Biden dropped out, [Kennedy] was drawing slightly more from Trump than the Democrats,” Beauchamp says. According to models from the polling aggregator and website 538, Kennedy’s endorsement could result in a 0.2% gain for Trump, as Kennedy had been drawing roughly 1.3 points from Harris and 1.5 from Trump.
