New polling about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and elements of his policy agenda shows how his “Make America Healthy Again” push doesn’t break down along the same neat partisan lines as some other issues, creating some political vulnerability and some opportunity.
A significant majority of U.S. adults support using vaccines to prevent diseases, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. And the share of people who believe vaccines are most to blame for chronic health issues is small, two dynamics that are at odds with Kennedy’s repeated efforts to cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
Kennedy has long spread misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. As health secretary, he recently dismantled the country’s premier group of vaccine experts — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent committee of vaccine advisers — and replaced former members with several well-known vaccine skeptics.
The poll results suggest those actions don’t resonate with the majority of adults.
But Kennedy’s focus on overhauling the nation’s intake of ultraprocessed food — a key part of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda — is an issue many adults can get behind.
The most popular answer to the poll question about what deserves the most blame for America’s chronic health problems was the food industry, at 35%, followed closely by the choices of individuals, at 32%. Kennedy has also targeted environmental toxins as one of the most urgent health issues in the United States, but 6% of respondents agreed that such toxins were the most important reason behind chronic health problems.
The public is fairly closely divided over its view of Kennedy himself, with a 51% majority viewing him favorably and 48% viewing him unfavorably. The majority of Democrats’ view Kennedy “strongly unfavorably,” while a slim majority of Republicans view him “somewhat favorably.”
Those who identify more with the MAGA movement, as opposed to considering themselves primarily supporters of the Republican Party, are far more likely to have “strongly favorable” views of Kennedy.
On vaccines, 49% of adults say they “strongly support” using vaccines to prevent diseases, with 31% more saying they “somewhat support” it.
Another 13% “somewhat oppose” using vaccines to prevent diseases, and 7% oppose it “strongly.”
About three-quarters of Democrats “strongly support” the use of vaccines (and another 16% somewhat support it) and majorities of Republicans and independents support vaccines either “strongly” or “somewhat.”
Across ages and genders, the most popular answer was that people “strongly support” using vaccines, including majorities of people ages 18 to 29 and those 65 and older, who were kids when illnesses like measles and polio were common.
People between those two groups — ages 30 to 64 — were slightly less likely to signal strong support for vaccines, even as a plurality still chose the option.
The survey didn’t differentiate between Covid vaccines and routine childhood vaccines, like the measles-mumps-rubella shots.
While Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism has been a hallmark of his long career inside and outside Washington, he has also waged war on the food industry and accused producers of ultraprocessed foods, environmental toxins and vaccines of contributing to an epidemic of health problems in America.
The poll data suggests a significant chunk of adults are sympathetic to at least part of that pitch, around the food industry.
Among adults, 35% say the food industry deserves the most blame for chronic health problems in the United States like obesity and heart disease. That factor was narrowly the top pick of respondents ahead of “the choices of individuals,” which 32% of people chose as deserving the most blame for chronic health problems.
Socioeconomic status (12%) and health insurance companies (10%) were the only other choices of the seven provided that drew double-digit support. Environmental toxins were the top pick of 6%, another 3% chose vaccines, and 2% chose genetics.
Younger adults, a segment of the population that typically leans more liberal, were likelier to choose the food industry as most to blame, while older adults were likelier to choose “the choices of individuals.”
And the concept that socioeconomic status is most to blame for chronic health issues appears to be resonating on the left and not the right. While 30% of progressives chose it, as did 14% of those who see themselves as more aligned with the Democratic Party, only small shares of Republicans agreed.
The NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey was conducted online from May 30-June 10 among a national sample of 19,410 adults ages 18 and over. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
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