By F. Andrew Wolf, Jr. ——Bio and Archives--August 25, 2024

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was clear at his first press conference after withdrawing from the presidential race. Three major issues compelled him to leave the Democratic Party and endorse Donald Trump for president: “Free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children.”

Trump, he explained, has “adopted these issues as his own to the point where he has asked to enlist me in his administration.”

The party two of his grandfathers helped build has become “the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big money,” Kennedy said. History will judge the Ukraine war as an Obama and Biden liability. It was initiated by a US-engineered coup in 2014, perpetuated by deliberately forestalling peace talks two years ago and costing the lives of 600,000 soldiers, needlessly. “Ukraine” is a victim of this war, and it’s a victim of the West,” he said.

Now that the much-anticipated event has occurred, one question that needs to be asked is:

Will RFKJr’s exit and endorsement actually benefit the former president and how much?

Surveys are clear that most of Trump's third-party defectors have been picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on test ballots where there are more choices. Polls show that a Kennedy withdrawal would benefit Trump. And even if it turns out that the numbers are not substantial (and no one knows for certain) small margins have ended up deciding recent presidential elections.

One truth that is clear from the national NBC News poll is that Republicans have a stronger preference for Kennedy than Democrats. In July, Kennedy held net-positive ratings from Republicans ( 11), while he was negative among independents (-18) and Democrats (-38). Republican voters clearly view RFKJr. more positively.

Moreover, Kennedy attracts almost all of Trump’s third-party defectors. July’s national NBC News poll also shows how the ballot changes from one with just the two major nominees to an expanded ballot that includes Kennedy.

When third-party candidates are included in........

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