RFK Jr. Endorsement a ‘Huge Boost’ for Trump as Kennedy Voters Eye New Trump–Kennedy Alliance: Analy

Fresh polling suggests Kennedy's exit from part of the race slightly benefits Trump over Harris. A survey by Echelon Insights came after the DNC and shows Trump up one point over Harris nationally at 49 to 48 percent of the vote. Here for more on the presidential race is Jeff Carrere. He's a political analyst and TV radio host. Great to have you on with us, Jeff. Are we seeing the slight shift in support for Trump after RFK Jr. suspended part of his campaign because Kennedy supporters were Trump voters to begin with or because Kennedy endorsed Trump for some other reason? Well, I mean, I think it's an interesting mix, Kevin. By the way, thanks for having me. I think when the DNC was going on, you saw Harris getting a boost. And then the next day that RFK Jr. endorsement came out and sort of, I think, turned things toward Trump again. And I really do think the supporters of RFK are going to be influenced by RFK's endorsement. I think it's a big one. I think it certainly can be the difference in a lot of battleground states. Kevin, looking at the numbers, RFK Jr. has got about 6 percent in some of these battleground states. I would think the majority of those voters are going to go to Trump. And that really can help them in these states that are so close. So, Kevin, I think this is a huge boost for the Trump campaign. Yeah, that's definitely a very interesting perspective that you have here. And then even in Arizona, Kennedy had about 9 percent up to that, according to a focal data poll. So we could talk about that. But what's this new movement that some Kennedy voters are really excited about with this alliance between Trump and Kennedy? Well, I think they have some commonality. They're sort of outsiders. They sort of want to challenge the status quo. They want to take on the power of government. They want to open up our society again with the emphasis on free speech and to go after the censorship that we've seen that have really sort of concerned so many people over the past few years. So there's a lot of commonality. I mean, RFK Jr. and Trump disagree on a bunch of issues, but the important ones I think they agree on—the border, Ukraine, the power of the government agencies, fighting censorship, improving the health of our children, improving the food that we're eating, taking on big pharma, big ag. So I think there'll be a lot of areas where Kennedy can get involved in the campaign. And then, as he talked about, the transition and then the administration. How is Trump going to appeal to these voters? I mean, he makes a lot of promises. We've heard talk about maybe a position for Kennedy in the Trump administration as they're teaming up. But is he going to be able to convince the American public that he'll follow through on all these things? I think so. If Kennedy has a prominent role in his campaign, and I think he will—I mean, if you see Kennedy on the stump campaigning for Trump, I think that's an indication that they're going to work together. So it really depends on how much we see of him over the next few weeks. I get the feeling, Kevin, that he is going to be utilized pretty significantly. So I think that should reassure his supporters that he'll have a role in a potential Trump administration. But let's not forget, this thing is still very, very close. And the debate is going to be huge as far as the implications on the race. Understood, Jeff. And there are a lot of differing views on this. For example, a GOP strategist based out of Ohio, Wes Farno, says that RFK endorsement of Trump is going to give him a boost of about three to four percent. But then there's the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, who says that a Kennedy exit is probably only going to have a small impact nationally and just a marginal difference in the swing states. We talked about Arizona. There's some polls, like we mentioned, that focal data poll shows him up like Kennedy has about nine percent before he suspended his campaign there. But in other states, he only has about one or two percent in the swing states. Which state is going to matter the most? You know, Arizona, the state he was in, is going to be a big player, and I think Kennedy is going to be utilized there pretty significantly. I would think he would be also brought on board in Pennsylvania. You know, there's seven battleground states that I'm looking at, Kevin, and each one of those, the margin is so small. Maybe Kennedy's impact is not as big as some people think, but it can be very small and still be the difference. So if I were Trump, I'd utilize him in every battleground state, Kevin. I think there could be a role for him in all seven of them. Interesting strategy you're laying out here. And there's that Democrat strategist, David Carlucci. He's been on the show before. He points to Pew Research Center data, and he says that Kennedy supporters were pretty much unenthusiastic, and they're probably not going to have that big of an effect in some of these battleground states. We'll have to wait and see here. But the Democratic National Committee is writing off this whole boost from Kennedy, citing advisor Ramsey Reid, who said Kennedy's withdrawal basically changes nothing. Do we expect some counter-messaging from the Democrats following Kennedy's move, or are they just sticking to their bread and butter issues, middle class, lowering prices, things like that? No, they're going to go after Kennedy. They're going to try to marginalize him, try to sort of make fun of him, just like they have for Trump and Vance. So they feel that could be a way to mitigate whatever kind of impact this could have. So yeah, I think the Democrats are not just going to let this go. They're going to continue, I think, to go after Kennedy and, of course, Trump as well. So this thing is tight, Kevin. This could be a big factor, since we're so close in the battleground states. The Democrats are going to use everything they can to try to turn it around. And I think the debate, the implications for the debate are very, very significant. Generating a lot of ideas for us. Thanks for the analysis, Jeff Carrere, political analyst and TV radio host. Thanks, Kevin.