This presidential election has had many historic twists and turns, and last week wasn’t an exception as Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsing Donald Trump. RFK has been pulling a small sliver of the vote and his support was dwindling before he ended his bid. Pew Research Center had his support at 15% in July and just 7% earlier this month. Who are the voters who were Team RFK?
By The Numbers:
Many RFK supporters were younger voters. Twenty-five percent were between 18-29 years old and 40% were between 30-49, compared to 17% and 29% for Kamala Harris and 9% and 29% for Trump, respectively.
RFK supporters were less attentive to politics. Only 24% of them said they follow what’s going on in government, compared to 51% of Harris supporters and 50% of Trump supporters.
Only 23% of RFK voters were personally motivated to vote, compared to 70% of Harris voters and 72% of Trump voters.
The Bottom Line: Registered voters who supported RFK weren’t happy with either major party candidate. While RFK’s suspension may allow either candidate to gain some of his supporters votes, chances are many of them likely stay home. Team Trump and Republicans will need to give those voters a reason to show up in November for Trump–particularly in the battleground states where the victory margin might come down to a few thousand votes.
