Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Friday that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Republican Donald Trump.
This move comes after Kennedy’s national support dropped to just 4 percent, according to a recent opinion survey, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
His campaign indicated that he feared staying in the race would siphon support from former President Trump, who is locked in a tight contest with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
An environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics who were assassinated during the turbulent 1960s, Kennedy entered the race in April 2023 as a challenger to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
With voters at the time turned off by both the aging Biden and the legally embattled Trump, interest in Kennedy soared. He shifted his plans and decided to run as an independent, and a November 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Kennedy drawing the support of 20% of Americans in a three-way race with Biden and Trump.
He ran a high-profile advertisement during the February 2024 Super Bowl that invoked his father, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and drew outrage from much of his high-profile family, who condemned his campaign.
For a time, both the Biden and Trump campaigns showed signs they were worried that Kennedy could draw enough support to change the election outcome. He faced an uphill battle in winning spots on the ballot as an independent but secured key positions including in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina—half of the competitive swing states expected to determine the election’s outcome.
