Days after a House hearing on censorship that saw Democrats attempt to prevent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from testifying, a new Harvard-Harris poll showed that he has a higher favorability rating than any other presidential candidate.
Mr. Kennedy has a favorable rating of 47 percent and a unfavorable mark of 26 percent, according to the survey, which was released on July 23 and conducted from July 19 to July 20 among 2,068 registered voters (pdf).
Former President Donald Trump has a favorability rating of 45 percent compared with a 49 percent unfavorability number. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a 40 percent favorable rating and 37 percent unfavorable, and President Joe Biden has 39 percent favorable and 53 percent unfavorable ratings.
According to the survey, Mr. Trump would defeat Mr. Biden in a general election 45 percent to 40 percent.
The former president would top vice president Kamala Harris 47 percent to 38 percent, the poll showed.
The survey didn’t indicate what would happen in a head-to-head matchup between Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Trump.
Dismissed as a longshot candidate by many political pundits, Mr. Kennedy also had the highest net favorability of all 2024 presidential candidates in a June poll from The Economist/YouGov.
Mr. Kennedy was viewed favorably by 49 percent of the respondents and unfavorably by 30 percent, which translates to a net favorability rating of 19.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump had 45 percent and 43 percent, respectively, of the respondents view them in a favorable way.
Mr. Biden’s net favorability rating was minus 7, and Mr. Trump’s was minus 10.
Bipartisan Support
Mr. Kennedy continues to draw bipartisan support in his campaign.
A July 20 House Judiciary Committee hearing examining the federal government’s role in censoring Americans was marked by explosive exchanges between Democrats and Republicans about Mr. Kennedy’s comments on vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Kennedy was a star witness at the hearing on the weaponization of the federal government.
Republicans defended Mr. Kennedy and said the Democrats’ outcry over his presence at the hearing amounted to censorship. Democrats criticized Republicans for giving Mr. Kennedy a “megaphone” to talk about his views on vaccines.
