RFK Jr. seizes on Donald Trump’s guilty verdict to boost support

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to use the guilty verdict of former President Trump in New York’s hush money trial to garner support from voters who are divided on the former president’s conviction.

Kennedy, who is running as an independent, denounced the verdict last week as “deeply undemocratic” and suggested the trial was a political ploy by Democrats to hurt their biggest Republican rivals.

His comments come as Trump seeks ways to expand his support among many of his target voters, as well as independents disillusioned with the top candidates.

“This guilty verdict is going to backfire for Democrats,” Kennedy said on Fox News after the jury’s verdict was made public. “I think that every time President Trump is indicted, his approval rating actually goes up, his popularity actually goes up.”

Kennedy echoes the views of many on the right in arguing that Democrats’ support for an investigation into Trump makes them look politically motivated and committed to a corrupt system — something he argues exposes the agency as highly partisan.

Despite appearances, Trump’s legal troubles are not preventing him from winning the White House for a second time. It’s unclear what impact that will have on Trump in November after he was convicted by the Manhattan district attorney of falsifying business records. The Trump campaign announced in May that it had raised $141 million with the Republican National Committee, a huge sum for any election cycle, but especially for a candidate embroiled in legal battles.

With Trump’s momentum showing no signs of slowing, some Kennedy’s supporters believe the ruling could also have a positive impact on Trump, an independent candidate.

“There may be independents who were committed to Trump who are now feeling fatigued, especially after the conviction,” a source close to the Kennedy campaign said. “Having Bobby on the debate stage would be a great opportunity to speak to those people.”

Biden and his allies have stepped up their condemnation of the former president and stepped up fundraising appeals in the wake of the verdict, while Kennedy has targeted Democrats rather than Trump in his attacks.

His action comes as some Republicans argue that coverage of Trump could benefit the current president.

“I actually think this ruling could hurt RFK and benefit Biden,” said Brian Sejczyk, a Republican strategist who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

It’s unclear how the ruling will resonate with voters in November’s election, but some have argued that Trump’s conviction could be the final straw to convert voters who were previously hesitant about Biden and considering supporting Kennedy to the Biden camp out of concern that having Kennedy on the ballot could help Trump win.

“There are many 2020 Biden supporters who fall into the ‘double-hater’ category,” Sejczyk said. “I think this Trump verdict will force people who intended to vote for Biden but were frustrated by his failed leadership to go back to Biden to ‘stop Trump.'”

“This ruling will force reluctant Biden supporters camped out on RFK soil to move back to Biden soil,” Sejczyk added. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on RFK Jr.’s poll numbers in battleground states over the next week to 10 days and beyond. This is the group that really matters.”

Polls have been mixed about who Kennedy has hurt more. When he first turned independent, Democrats were more publicly upset that he would damage their campaigns than Republicans. But recent polls have also shown that he is stealing support from Trump, and his allies have stepped up their attacks in response.

“It’s still relatively unclear and may vary a little bit from state to state,” said Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University who recently conducted battleground state polls for Kennedy in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

“As we get closer to Election Day, we tend to see a trickle of voters coming back to choose third parties as an expression of dissatisfaction,” he said. “They’re in keeping with their party voting tendencies.”

“Our polls have RFK Jr. at 10 percent approval rating, but I’m afraid that rating is probably not going to hold,” he said.

FAU A poll conducted with Main Street Research found that a Kennedy candidacy before the fall election would improve Biden’s chances of beating Trump in two key battleground states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Biden currently trails Trump slightly without Kennedy.

Kennedy has stepped up efforts to appeal to Trump supporters, or at least avoid alienating them, through appearances with conservative hosts like Ben Shapiro and on traditional right-wing news shows. “I don’t want to beat Trump in court,” Kennedy said in an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters that was first featured on his campaign website, offering a less-than-blatant snide remark about Democrats.

But Kennedy still has a lot of work to do. Public perception of him is still forming, several sources say. And some say he lacks a clear message or agenda beyond his anti-establishment sentiment and the allure of a famous last name, making him not strong enough to stand up to his opponents. Skeptics argue the Kennedys are past their time in the public eye.

“RFK himself doesn’t seem to have any support from anybody,” Republican political consultant Keith Norton said of RFK’s position with voters after the verdict. “I don’t think he’s got any support. What will he say? There’s nothing to say about this trial that he hasn’t said before.”

“He has no message,” Norton added. “He’s just absorbing the protest votes.”

Sejczyk agrees. “Most of his supporters are anti-Trump, anti-Biden,” he says. “I don’t think there are many people who are enthusiastic about RFK Jr.”