Will he stay or will he go? RFK to address his political future Friday

As the November general election gets closer, one of the looming questions is whether independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will stay in the race. Kennedy’s campaign has said he will address this question, and the nation, on Friday from Phoenix.
If he does drop out, what effect will that have? Reports seem to indicate he may drop out and endorse former President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan gave her thoughts on their situation.
On the “Impact Theory” podcast with host Tom Bilyeu, Shanahan told Bilyeu their campaign had two options they were considering.
The first was to stay in the race and try to get enough votes to establish themselves as a party. This would set them up for future elections as a legitimate third option in addition to the Republican and Democratic parties. This would save them money in the campaign process and answer a want of many Americans.
“71% of Americans want a strong third party,” Shanahan claimed.
Gallup reported this number at 63% in 2023. Another 2023 report from Pew Research Center said that 68% of U.S. adults agreed with the statement, “I wish there were more political parties to choose from.”
The second option Shanahan discussed is to drop out and “join forces” with the Trump campaign.
But she said that doing so would depend on several factors, including deciding if they can trust Trump to act in ways they align with.
“Do we trust Trump and his personal sincerity to really do the right thing for our country, end chronic disease, balance the budget, end these forever wars?” Shanahan said. “Is he somebody that’s going to continue to invite people like Bobby and I into the conversation, or is he going to fall victim again to the things he fell victim to in his first administration?”
Their main consideration, Shanahan told Bilyeu, is taking into account what they think will be best overall.
“We want what’s best for this country, first and foremost.”
Speaking about rumors that RFK Jr. had been in talks with the Democratic Party about potentially joining them or seeking a cabinet position, Shanahan clarified that they are “Definitely not in talks with Harris.”
She called reports that said they had been or are “fake news.”
Another consideration Shanahan said their campaign needed to make was the effect of staying in the race on voter numbers.
If the RFK Jr. campaign does stay in the race “we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump,” Shanahan said.
A recent report from The Washington Post pulled numbers from six different polls and saw that RFK Jr. is in fact taking more voters from Trump than from Harris.
“Kennedy takes just 3 percent of both Democrats and Republicans in the poll, while taking 13 percent of independents,” the Post wrote in its analysis. “But the independents he takes come at Trump’s expense: Kennedy wins 8 percent of Democratic-leaning independents, compared with 23 percent of Republican-leaning independents.”
Yet another factor that could come into play for the RFK campaign is funding. A Federal Election Commission report filed on Monday showed that RFK only had $3.9 million left to use while also owing $3.5 million in debt.
This is compared with the Trump campaign and Harris campaign, who have $128 million and $95 million, respectively, in cash on hand, according to Open Secrets.