Would Mayor Daley have supported RFK if he had lived?

It all comes down to what the polls where showing in August 1968, the main concern of the party leaders is going to be who is the strongest candidate for the ticket.
While many of the delegates were pledge to Humphrey they still could have switched to RFK if it was shown that RFK would have been better for the candidates in their states.
 
It all comes down to what the polls where showing in August 1968, the main concern of the party leaders is going to be who is the strongest candidate for the ticket.
While many of the delegates were pledge to Humphrey they still could have switched to RFK if it was shown that RFK would have been better for the candidates in their states.

FWIW, polls before RFK's assassination did not show him to be a particularly strong candidate.

"In a nationwide Gallup poll the week before Kennedy’s assassination, Vice President Hubert Humphrey narrowly led Kennedy, 34% to 28%, with Sen. Eugene McCarthy receiving 26%. Among Democrats, the split was mostly between Humphrey (40%) and Kennedy (37%) with McCarthy further behind at 16%.

"Much of Kennedy’s support came from younger people. In the three-way race for the Democratic nomination, Kennedy had the backing of 37% of those under 30, compared to 26% of those older than 30.

"That same poll showed a dead heat in a hypothetical general election matchup between Kennedy and former Vice President Richard Nixon, with Nixon at 37%, Kennedy at 35% and third-party candidate George Wallace at 17%. Adults younger than 30 would have picked Kennedy over Nixon, 44% to 33%."

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/05/polling-flashback-remembering-rfk/

RFK's position in the polls could of course have improved after his California primary victory, but as things stand there is actually little evidence to support the widely held idea that he would have been a much stronger candidate against Nixon than Humphrey was. (Also remember that his strongest age group--voters under thirty--was historically the least likely to actually vote...)
 
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Considering that he tried to get Ted Kennedy to run after Bobby was shot, I would think so

This doesn’t make sense. Why would the Democratic leadership support Dewrey, the republican candidate?


There was no chance that the Chicago Democratic organization would back Dewey. However, many Democrats in Chicago as elsewhere thought Truman had very little chance to win--that was why they had supported the unsuccessful attempt to draft Eisenhower as the Democratic presidential candidate.. The real danger for Truman in Illinois was not that the machine would endorse Dewey but that it would do no more than pay lip service to Truman's campaign and concentrate on electing state and local Democratic candidates. But ultimately Jacob Arvey, who then headed the machine, decided to make a real--and ultimately successful--effort for Truman in Illinois:

"In 1948, convinced that President Harry S. Truman—who had fallen behind in the polls—couldn't win reelection, he [Arvey] tried unsuccessfully to persuade war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower to head the Democratic ticket....Although some leaders expressed misgivings about Truman's candidacy, Arvey, reconsidering, became convinced that Truman could be turned into a winner. The real turning point came when Truman agreed to recognize the state of Israel in March 1948. Arvey then gave his full, unconditional support..." https://books.google.com/books?id=qojgLBuEFEUC&pg=PA24

One way Arvey helped Truman was by backing strong candidates like Adlai Stevenson for Governor and Paul Douglas for Senator--both of whom ran well ahead of Truman. Indeed, Truman could be said to have won in Illinois because of "reverse coattails." (Another reason Truman won Illinois is because Henry Wallace wasn't on the ballot--Republican Governor Dwight Green and the Republican state legislature foolishly declined to pass laws making it easier for third party candidates to get on the ballot.)

But in any event if any one Chicago machine Democrat deserves credit for Truman's victory in Illinois in 1948, it was Arvey, not Daley.
 
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