Expert: RFK Jr. ‘A Parasitic Force’ in the 2024 Election

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the presidential race today, endorsing former President Donald Trump in the Republican’s bid to return to the White House.

In a press conference covered live in Arizona, Kennedy said he has begun to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states as not to become a “spoiler,” which he believes would split the vote and “likely hand the race over to the Democrats.”

In endorsing Trump, Kennedy said he wants to join with him to focus on eradicating chronic disease. He and Trump are “aligned on many key issues,” he said, noting Trump had earlier “asked to enlist” Kennedy in his administration, should the Republican win the November election.

“RFK Jr. was always a parasitic force in the 2024 election – he can’t even leave the race in a clean way, and burrowing his way into Trump’s good graces speaks to the iconoclastic tilt of Kennedy’s campaign,” said UMass Lowell’s John Cluverius, a polling and U.S. politics expert available for interviews. “Most independent insurgent candidates try to stake out popular positions that appeal to disaffected voters of both parties. Instead, RFK Jr. – on vaccines, the Israel-Hamas war, abortion, in vitro fertilization, Ukraine, and health care – embraced positions that few Americans share, and when pushed, tried to wriggle away from previous statements.”

An environmental lawyer, Kennedy began his presidential campaign as a Democrat but later shed his political roots – he is a son of former U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of former President John F. Kennedy – to run as an independent. Dotted with controversies, his campaign took another hit last month when President Joe Biden stepped away from the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Cluverius said. She is now the Democratic nominee, having closed out the party’s national convention last night.

This morning, the state of play is very different, according to Cluverius. 

“Most of Kennedy’s voters aren’t loyal to Kennedy. They chose him because they didn’t like Biden or Trump,” he said. “With Harris entering the race, the electorate is segmented much differently. It’s wrong to assume Kennedy’s share of voters will now automatically vote for Trump. Likewise, it would be wrong to assume had Kennedy endorsed Harris, his share of voters would support her. But as the race stands now, we may see disaffected Democrats taking a look at Harris. Independent and undecided voters are really volatile.”

Cluverius also responded to speculation Kennedy would land a position in a Trump administration, should he win.

“Cabinet positions are promised to no one. We’ve seen in the past how prominent politicians seek appointments from Trump that just don’t materialize,” Cluverius said.

An authority political methodology, Cluverius is an associate professor in UMass Lowell’s political science department, where he is the associate director and director of survey research of the university’s Center for Public Opinion. To arrange an interview with him, contact Emily Gowdey-Backus or Nancy Cicco.