Following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race, Vice President Harris has successfully consolidated the Democratic base, significantly reducing the number of Democrats who might have otherwise supported RFK or other third-party candidates.
“As such, RFK was hurting Trump more than Harris in recent weeks,” Strategas analysts said in the note.
Analysts further discuss the potential effects of an RFK endorsement of Trump on the electoral college.
While Democrats believe RFK’s decision will turn out to be “meaningless,” the Trump campaign sees it as “a game changer.”
“The crudest way to calculate the change is to compare the polling of a 5-person race with RFK and then a 2-person race,” Strategas analysts said.
“The results show the impact of RFK can matter for the electoral college with Pennsylvania and Arizona moving to Trump and closing off the electoral college to Harris,” they added.
Specifically, it would change the electoral college outlook from a 281-241 lead for Harris to a 287-251 victory for Trump.
While the political landscape is more dynamic than this analysis suggests, it also shows that an RFK endorsement “is likely to have at least a modest, if not larger, impact on the race.”
In the month following Biden’s departure from the race, Harris has successfully unified the Democratic base and revitalized voter enthusiasm within the party. Democratic leaders have expressed that the current energy resembles that of 2008.
Meanwhile, Trump’s polling appears to be bottoming, Strategas notes, aside from any potential boost Harris might gain from the convention. Analysts said the RFK’s endorsement is likely the factor that drove the shift in Trump’s odds this week, despite the Democratic convection.
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