POLL Kennedy easily tops the list with a 52% favorable rating

January 25, 2024

The latest results are from a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 1-20, with 1,013 U.S. adults. While these ratings represent the American people’s overall feelings about the two front-runners for the 2024 presidential nominations, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the voters who will go to the polls in November.

The same poll measured Americans’ overall impressions of Trump’s chief rivals for the Republican presidential nomination — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley — as well as independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy easily tops the list with a 52% favorable rating, while Haley and DeSantis are each viewed favorably by about a third. However, Haley’s net image is the more positive of the two, given her lower unfavorable rating (34% to DeSantis’ 52%). A larger proportion of Americans have no opinion of Haley (34%) than of DeSantis (16%), but the Haley figures preceded the recent controversy over her responses at a New Hampshire town hall when she failed to mention slavery as a cause of the U.S. Civil War.

Meanwhile, sitting in the political wings, Kennedy enjoys majority-level favorable ratings from most subgroups of Americans, including from all major gender, race and age groups. Despite his Democratic name and long-term party affiliation, he is viewed favorably by majorities of Republicans and independents versus about four in 10 Democrats.

While Kennedy has a long way to go to demonstrate his candidacy is viable, he has yet to undergo the scrutiny that comes with that position. That may partly explain why he is currently viewed favorably by half or more adults, including across many subgroups. However, were his positive image to hold and all three candidates wind up on the ballot in November, Kennedy could appeal to that segment of voters who are resistant to Biden but are also not sold on Trump.