What polling shows about Americans' views of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Recent polls show that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to have a favorable opinion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his presidential campaign on Friday and gave his support to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

During a speech made in Arizona, Kennedy cited concerns that continuing his campaign would help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Kennedy’s support appeared to have declined in recent polls as he struggled to find his political lane in a race reshaped by the departure of Democratic President Joe Biden and Harris’ nomination in his place. The developments left relatively narrow room for Kennedy’s presence — or departure — to make a difference in the election outcome. Recent polls don’t give a clear indication that Kennedy’s presence in the race had an outsized impact on support for either major-party candidate.

While some polls earlier in the year put Kennedy’s support in the double digits, his support hovered in the mid-single digits in most recent polls. It’s unclear if Kennedy would have even received that level of support in the general election, since third-party candidates frequently don’t live up to their early poll numbers when voters actually cast their ballots.

In recent months, Americans overall have been split in their views of Kennedy, 70, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

About as many people had a favorable as unfavorable view of Kennedy, according to a July AP-NORC poll that was conducted before Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month. That marked a decline from February, when more had a positive than negative view of Kennedy, and about 3 in 10 did not have an opinion.

In the most recent poll, about 2 in 10 U.S. adults didn’t know enough about Kennedy to give an opinion.

Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats and independents to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).

Kennedy also struggled to endear himself to political independents. Although he was running as an independent presidential candidate, polling showed about 4 in 10 independents did not know enough to form an opinion. Those who did were divided equally between favorable and unfavorable opinions.

Kennedy's appeal largely rested on being an alternative to the match-up many Americans dreaded when Biden was facing Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election won by Biden. A Pew Research Center poll from July found that about half of voters who were supporting Kennedy said the main reason they backed him was because he was neither Biden nor Trump, compared with about 3 in 10 who listed Kennedy's characteristics or policies.

Harris’ move to the top of the Democratic ticket may have further harmed Kennedy’s prospects. An August Pew poll suggested that Harris had gained support at Kennedy’s expense. She appeared to have received the support of some women and non-white voters who previously were considering Kennedy.

Kennedy’s initial pitch was largely focused on his family name and his relation to other famed Kennedys, including his father and his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy. CNN polling conducted last summer when RFK Jr. was running for the Democratic nomination found that many Democrats said they’d consider supporting him because of the Kennedy name or his family connections. Many members of the Kennedy family endorsed Biden before he withdrew from the race.

John F. Kennedy remains the most highly rated former president in Gallup’s retrospective approval ratings, and his appeal crosses party lines. Nine in 10 Americans approve of how Kennedy, a Democrat, handled his job as president, according to data from last summer, with Democrats, independents and Republicans in agreement.

News of Robert Kennedy’s withdrawal comes a little over a week since a New York judge ruled that he should not appear on the ballot in the state because he listed a “sham” address on nominating petitions. Kennedy appealed the ruling, but has faced several similar challenges around the country.

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This story originally ran Aug. 22, 2024. It was updated Aug. 23, 2024, to add that independent candidate RFK Jr. suspended his campaign and is supporting former President Donald Trump.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, Pool)

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, Pool)

BOSTON (AP) — A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.

Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.

“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.

The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I'm bored.” The awards ceremony was also was broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy's Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people's heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone's hair in the Southern Hemisphere.

Other winners include a group of scientists who showed that fake medicine that causes side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that doesn't cause side effects and one showing that some mammals are cable of breathing through their anus — winners who came on stage wearing a fish-inspired hats.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”

Professor James Liao displays a stuffed fish while accepting a prize for physics for demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A team of researchers perform a demonstration during a performance showing that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus while accepting the 2024 Ig Nobel prize in physiology at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

People in the audience throw paper airplanes toward the stage during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - Students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)