Polling guru Frank Luntz thinks that RFK Jr.’s decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Donald Trump could have big implications for the former president’s chances—and could be the difference in the key battleground states that will decide the election.
“It’s probably worth about 1 percent for Trump and that 1 percent could be everything if it’s in the swing states,” Luntz said during his Friday appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance” with Leland Vittert.
“In the end, the reason why Kennedy was drawing 10, 12, even as high as 14 percent is because he was taking votes away from Joe Biden,” he continued. “Joe Biden’s gone. Kamala Harris has replaced him, and [Kennedy’s] vote collapsed down to about 4 or 5 percent and what’s left is a Trump vote.”
“Some of them are simply not going to participate in November, roughly two to one, the ones who are remaining will vote for Trump over Harris, and that’s worth a single percent, and a single percent can make the difference in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.” [Bolding mine.]
Watch:
Pollster Frank Luntz says that RFK Jr. endorsing Trump could “make the difference” in swing states and propel Trump to victory.
He adds that the media would have treated the endorsement dramatically different if he endorsed Kamala Harris and he would have been regarded as a… pic.twitter.com/bJD09aYUs7
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 24, 2024
Kennedy’s decision has rocked the presidential election:
RFK Jr.’s Endorsement Is an Opportunity for Donald Trump
Even CNN’s Erin Burnett Admits How ‘Huge’ an RFK Bump May Be for Trump
HOT TAKES: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Suspends Campaign, Endorses Trump, and Pretty Much Upends the Election
As we’ve been reporting, the mainstream media has been depicting Kamala Harris’ rise after Joe Biden quit his reelection effort as a national awakening, a rebirth for a failed candidate who now somehow is some sort of Democratic messiah. Luntz sees the hypocrisy too:
“If he [RFK Jr.] had endorsed Harris, I do think he would be regarded as a hero but because he endorsed Trump, the people who are communicating that are not giving him the credit that he deserves, and I think we have to be careful in the last 73 days of this election campaign to understand the motivations of the people providing us information like what I’m doing right now, because I am dedicated to getting this election correct,” he said.
RFK Jr. may not convince many of his voters to support Trump.
But even a small fraction of them could tip swing states to red this November. 🔴 https://t.co/IBzH28AmX7
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) August 24, 2024
Luntz has some advice for the former president, however, if he wants to win it all—focus on the issues:
If it is about attributes, if he continues to attack Harris and the way that he is done, and he gets away from inflation, which is really affordability, stops talking about paycheck-to-paycheck voters, which is better than working class or middle class, the language does matter here, if he does that, he is in the driver’s seat.
We won’t know if he’s right until the Fat Lady sings in November, but two things are clearly evident: RFK Jr.’s decision to go with Trump and dump the duplicitous Democrat party that’s been at the heart of his family’s history will have a profound effect on this election, and 2) the media hates this move with every fiber of their corrupt being and will continue to everything in their power to undermine the GOP and prop up the mendacious socialist campaign of Kamala Harris. American voters need to see through this ruse.
