PolitiFact's 2023 Lie of the Year: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign of conspiracy theories

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : None of that slowed an elite path through higher education, including Harvard University for his bachelor's degree and the University of Virginia for his law degree.
48% : Continued research has not established a link between thimerosal and autism.
47% : Kolina Koltai, a senior researcher at Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group, had seen anti-vaccine groups try to seize on Zika and Ebola outbreaks, with little success.
44% : Since at least 2019, Children's Health Defense has supported and filed lawsuits challenging vaccination requirements, mask mandates and social media companies' misinformation policies (including a related lawsuit against Facebook and The Poynter Institute, which owns PolitiFact).
44% : Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Kennedy may be a "placeholder" for voters who are dissatisfied with Trump and Biden and will take a third option when offered by pollsters.
41% : The organization also produces documentary-style films and books, including Kennedy's "The Wuhan Cover-Up and the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race" and "The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.
35% : Kennedy alleged that preeminent health agencies -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization -- had colluded with vaccine manufacturers "to conceal the data.
30% : According to polls since November of a three-way matchup between President Joe Biden, Trump and Kennedy, Kennedy pulled 16% to 22% of respondents.
17% : However, a much higher percentage of voters are unfamiliar with him than they are with Trump or Biden -- about a quarter -- and Kennedy's favorability edge has decreased as his campaign has gone on.
14% : Kennedy was popular with conservative commentators before he became an independent, and he has avoided pointedly criticizing Trump, except on COVID-19 lockdowns.
2% : When NBC News asked Kennedy in August what he thought of Trump's 2020 election lies, Kennedy said he believed Trump lost, but that, in general, people who believe elections were stolen "should be listened to."

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