Following Robert F. Kennedy's withdrawal on Friday and subsequent endorsement of former President Donald Trump, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the Republican candidate will likely be able to garner support from the independent's remaining supporters.

After President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, a significant portion of Kennedy's supporters went to his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris. But now that Kennedy has dropped out of the race entirely, his remaining disgruntled Democratic supporters are likely to drift to the Republican candidate, experts told DCNF. (Related: Third-party candidates undermine Biden among disgruntled Democrats, but Harris is a different story.)

“I think what remains of RFK's base are people who are probably somewhat skeptical of his administrative temperament and past actions, but who are more likely to support former President Trump,” Len Foxwell, a Maryland-based Democratic strategist, told DCNF. “My guess is that these people, if given the choice, would support the former president.”

“There's really a phenomenon going on where voting is a form of protest,” Democratic strategist Dheeraj Chand told DCNF. “Voting is what you might call an expression of no confidence or contempt. And now we see Trump ruining it. Not because there's no path to victory — Trump has seen time and time again that there's no path to victory — but what he's seeing is that every single 3% of people who vote for him are choosing Trump second.”

Chand told the DCNF that in past elections, disgruntled voters have drifted away from the Democratic Party, just as some voters who supported independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary later supported Trump.

“That's why the Sanders-Trump phenomenon was a reality in 2016, and why we have Sanders supporters who are similarly susceptible to Trump's persuasion in 2020,” Chand told DCNF. “These are people who don't necessarily agree with the policies, but who felt deeply alienated and wanted to express that alienation as a protest vote.” (Related article: Trump reportedly met with RFK Jr. to discuss endorsement)

“His remaining voters are people who are not voting Democrat, and that's really important to understand,” Chand told DCNF. “They're not voting because they agree with this person. A lot of them are just voting because they're against the two-party system.”

“Protest” voters may not have much in common ideologically, but they do share attitudinal commonality, say experts like Chand.

“What Americans have in common is they believe the country is heading in the wrong direction,” John McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster and CEO of McLaughlin & Associates, told DCNF. “They believe Washington is against them, they believe the country is run by elites who don't care about the working class. All they care about is expanding government and controlling people's lives. And Kennedy stood for freedom.”

“While we may not agree on policy, we both feel deeply hurt by the betrayal of American society,” Chand told DCNF. “We both share that sentiment and will approach policy accordingly.”

Polls in key battleground states show the race has tightened after Democrats shuffled their top candidates, while Kennedy's approval rating has plummeted from double digits.

“I think, not coincidentally, RFK's vote share reached its highest level when President Biden was still on the campaign trail,” Foxwell told DCNF. “His highest level was also when he had the most so-called 'double haters' in the electorate – people who were uncomfortable with both candidates. But I think, at least at this point, a lot of disgruntled Democrats have come back to VP Harris.” (RELATED: Judge rules RFK Jr. can file censorship lawsuit against Biden administration after Supreme Court rejects state challenges)

Before Biden's withdrawal, Kennedy had 16% support, giving Trump a five-point lead over Biden, according to Forbes/HarrisX. vote Kennedy's approval rating had fallen to 2% by early August. According to According to an Economist/YouGov poll.

While Kennedy's remaining supporters alone may be enough to turn the tide of the presidential election, experts like McLaughlin say Kennedy's reasons for supporting Trump may be enough to persuade undecided voters who weren't interested in either candidate in the first place.

“If you have 4 or 5 percent of people voting for Trump in a close race, that's going to make a big difference,” McLaughlin told DCNF, “but I think it could be even bigger than his base because of what he's said, what his reasons are for supporting President Trump. It could even influence that 10 percent of voters who are still undecided.”

Foxwell told the DCNF that the race was close to the end and that Kennedy's impact on the race ultimately depended on whether he could win significant support in key battleground states.

“I think it depends entirely on where RFK's supporters are in each state,” Foxwell told DCNF. “If he gets, say, 4% in New York or California, it doesn't really matter. The vice president is going to win those states anyway. Similarly, if he gets a percentage of the vote in the Deep South or the Bible Belt, it doesn't matter. But if he gets a percentage of the vote in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, etc., that's a whole different story.”

“We have an arrogant ruling class in this country and Trump is running against them,” McLaughlin told DCNF. “Now we have Robert F. Kennedy. I think this is a pretty strong endorsement for the rest of the campaign.”

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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