Political expert Larry Sabato downplayed the impact of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent endorsement of former President Trump, saying it likely won’t sway a good number of Kennedy’s supporters.
Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and runs the election forecast Sabato’s Crystal Ball, pointed out on Friday that many of Kennedy’s backers may not necessarily shift their votes to Trump. This followed Kennedy’s announcement that he would suspend his presidential bid and back Trump instead.
Sabato says RFK Jr.’s Trump endorsement won’t automatically shift his remaining supporters
During an appearance on MSNBC, Sabato remarked that Kennedy’s influence has been waning since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race last month. “Kennedy’s numbers have plummeted since Kamala Harris joined the race,” Sabato said.
“When he first entered, his support was in the high teens and even reached the low 20s in some surveys. But now, in the best-case scenario, he’s polling at just 5 or 6 percent in some states,” he added. “And those figures are outdated. One recent network poll had him at just 2 percent.”
As Harris gains traction in national and swing-state polls, Sabato argued that Kennedy’s endorsement won’t automatically shift all of his followers to Trump, suggesting some may choose another candidate altogether.
“People who believe Kennedy’s endorsement will transfer that 2 percent directly to Trump don’t understand how politics works. It simply doesn’t work that way,” Sabato explained. Sabato also critiqued RFK Jr. for not fully leveraging his famous family name to his advantage.
The Trump campaign recently circulated a memo from its pollster, Tony Fabrizio, claiming that Trump would inherit most of Kennedy’s support. However, current polls show Harris leading Trump by 5.6 percentage points in a three-way race, with Kennedy polling at 2.8 percent.
