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Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. It studies U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social and demographic trends. All of the center’s reports are available at www.pewresearch.org . Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts , its primary funder.

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As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exits, a look at who supported him in the 2024 presidential race

Then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., on May 24, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he would suspend his presidential campaign on Friday – adding yet another shakeup to the 2024 contest.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand voters who said they planned to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 presidential election. For this analysis, we surveyed 9,201 adults – including 7,569 registered voters – from Aug. 5 to 11, 2024.

Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors.  Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the  questions used for this analysis , the topline and the survey methodology .

Charts showing that, prior to departure from presidential race, Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s support had been declining.

Though the third-party candidate was capturing about 15% of registered voters in early July, he lost significant ground after that. In early August, just 7% of voters said they leaned toward or preferred Kennedy for president. This data comes from Pew Research Center surveys conducted in July and August.

As RFK Jr. exits the race, here are some findings about his supporters:

What Kennedy voters did after Biden withdrew from race

Many of Kennedy’s July supporters decided to back a different candidate after Joe Biden left the race. These voters picked Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by two-to-one.

A stacked bar chart showing that RFK Jr. voters were far less likely to strongly support their candidate.

Among voters who said they backed Kennedy in July, a majority (61%) supported a different candidate in August. Roughly four-in-ten (39%) continued to back RFK Jr. Far more of those who changed their preference decided to support Harris (39%) than Trump (20%).

Kennedy’s voters were lukewarm in their support

In August, just 18% of Kennedy’s supporters said they backed him strongly. This compared with nearly two-thirds of Trump (64%) and Harris (62%) supporters.

Which voters were more likely to support RFK Jr.  

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that Kennedy’s supporters were relatively young, less attentive to politics, less motivated to vote.

Kennedy’s remaining supporters in August were far younger than Harris’ or Trump’s. About two-thirds of Kennedy’s supporters were under 50, compared with 46% of Harris’ and 38% of Trump’s.

While roughly half of Harris and Trump supporters follow what is going on in government and public affairs most of the time, only about a quarter (24%) of Kennedy supporters do.

Kennedy’s supporters also were far less likely to say they were highly motivated to vote in the presidential election. In August, the following shares of each candidate’s supporters said they were extremely motivated to vote:

  • Harris: 70%
  • Kennedy: 23%

Most Kennedy supporters did not identify as partisans – and a majority held unfavorable views of both Harris and Trump

Horizontal stacked bar charts showing that most of Kennedy’s supporters did not identify with a major party – and disliked both parties’ candidates.

Most of Kennedy’s remaining supporters did not call themselves partisans. Just 14% consider themselves Republicans while 12% consider themselves Democrats. The vast majority of his supporters (74%) say they are independent or something else. A larger share lean toward the Republican Party than the Democratic Party (40% vs. 26%).

In August, Kennedy supporters were sour on both Harris and Trump – 61% said they had an unfavorable view of both candidates.

Note: Here are the  questions used for this analysis , the topline and the survey methodology .

  • Donald Trump
  • Election 2024
  • Kamala Harris
  • Voters & Voting

Download Hannah Hartig's photo

Hannah Hartig is a senior researcher focusing on U.S. politics and policy research at Pew Research Center .

The Political Values of Harris and Trump Supporters

Harris energizes democrats in transformed presidential race, many americans are confident the 2024 election will be conducted fairly, but wide partisan differences remain, joe biden, public opinion and his withdrawal from the 2024 race, amid doubts about biden’s mental sharpness, trump leads presidential race, most popular.

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    ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

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  3. Pew Research Center

    The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. [2] It also conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, random sample survey research, and panel based surveys, [4] media content analysis, and other ...

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    Pew Research Center has deep roots in U.S. public opinion research. Launched initially as a project focused primarily on U.S. policy and politics in the early 1990s, the Center has grown over time to study a wide range of topics vital to explaining America to itself and to the world.Our hallmarks: a rigorous approach to methodological quality, complete transparency as to our methods, and a ...

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    ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

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    ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

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    Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. It studies U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and ...

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    ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

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    ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

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    This spring, Pew Research Center conducted a major study of American political values. This survey examined the public's views of topics including immigration, race and ethnicity, government, family, gender identity, religious values, and foreign policy. Reports released earlier this year looked at these attitudes among supporters of ...

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    Pew Research Center, Washington, District of Columbia. 289,196 likes · 576 talking about this. Pew Research Center provides nonpartisan, nonadvocacy data and analysis on the issues, attitudes and Pew Research Center

  29. Who supported RFK Jr. in the 2024 presidential race?

    Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand voters who said they planned to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 presidential election. For this analysis, we surveyed 9,201 adults - including 7,569 registered voters - from Aug. 5 to 11, 2024.

  30. Pew Research Center

    Le Pew Research Center est un centre de recherche (think tank) américain qui fournit des statistiques et des informations sociales sous forme de démographie , sondage d'opinion , analyse de contenu . Son siège social est à Washington, D.C. et ses activités sont financées par le Pew Charitable Trusts . Le Pew Research Center est connu pour ses statistiques démographiques religieuses ...