Ben Lowry: Kamala Harris was ahead in White House race but now Robert F Kennedy Jr has given Donald Trump a boost
Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK) has said he is suspending his independent run for the US presidency, as we report today.
The maverick Democratic Party politician is endorsing the Republican Party candidate, Donald Trump. This suddenly tilts the favour of the November contest in favour of Mr Trump.
For most of this year I had assumed that the former president was going to win, because it was so crystal clear that Joe Biden would not get through a debate with him. This was apparent last year indeed, when President Biden was plainly incapable of unscripted public appearances during his time in Belfast. I write that, incidentally, with sadness rather than glee – we are damn lucky, as such a small society, to get repeated visits from US presidents (Ben Lowry in June: ‘I was a nervous wreck watching Biden in debate’).
I then thought that Mr Trump would prevail against Kamala Harris if she became the Democratic Party replacement for President Biden, as indeed she has done. She was, I thought, too radical for Americans.
But in fact she has been gaining traction, and serious pollsters think she might win. I thought she might win in the popular vote, but maybe not in the complicated electoral college that allocates that vote by state, etc.
Mr Kennedy has at most 5% of the vote, enough to clinch. But will they all follow him to Mr Trump?
Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor