WASHINGTON – The children seen by Dolores Mejia round suburban Phoenix have been rising heavier in recent times. Their mother and father, too, she says.
Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she’s additionally had her personal weight struggles on the dimensions.
That is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to “Make America Wholesome Once more” as he campaigned alongside Donald Trump caught her consideration. She preferred the questions Kennedy raised concerning the position of processed meals in America’s obesity epidemic.
“I’m a junk meals particular person,” mentioned Mejia, an ardent Trump supporter. “I began questioning the place these further kilos got here from.”
After listening to Kennedy out, she concluded: “We can not belief the well being organizations we’ve trusted for years to inform us that our meals are secure.”
Republicans corresponding to Mejia have embraced Kennedy, whose alliance with the president-elect may make the distinguished environmentalist and vaccine skeptic the nation’s top health official subsequent 12 months. Republicans maintain an overwhelmingly optimistic view of Kennedy, with most approving of Trump’s resolution to place him in his administration, in response to latest polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 voters within the 2024 presidential election.
However Individuals total are much less optimistic about Kennedy, and there is not broad help for some of his views, which embody nearer scrutiny of vaccines.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy shall be charged with main the Division of Well being and Human Providers, a $1.7 trillion company that researches most cancers, approves pharmaceuticals and offers medical health insurance for roughly half the nation.
What Individuals take into consideration RFK Jr. as nation’s prime well being official
About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Kennedy’s appointment to Trump’s Cupboard and solely about 1 in 10 disapprove, in response to an AP-NORC ballot carried out in December, whereas the remainder aren’t acquainted with him or did not have an opinion.
Kennedy’s discuss of wholesome meals is what captured the eye of Natalie Moralez, a 32-year-old engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who identifies as an impartial.
She likes his guarantees to tackle highly effective firms. And she or he’s desperate to see him problem the substances they use within the meals she finds on grocery store cabinets.
“Even simply shopping for meals from the grocery retailer, like what else is in there?” Moralez mentioned. “That’s my fundamental concern, and hopefully he can determine what the underlying points are and see if we are able to do higher.”
Kennedy does not fare as properly amongst Individuals total, with about 4 in 10 U.S. adults disapproving and about 3 in 10 approving of his appointment.
Though Kennedy is a member of one of the highly effective Democratic dynasties within the nation, most Democrats mentioned they do not like that he is been named to Trump’s Cupboard. About 6 in 10 Democrats “strongly disapprove” of the choose, the December ballot discovered. That is a better share of disapproval than other high-profile picks corresponding to Pete Hegseth to be protection secretary or Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
His anti-vaccine stance is not broadly fashionable
Kennedy began his profession as an environmental lawyer and gained massive lawsuits in opposition to firms over the chemical substances utilized in weed killers and heavy metallic smelters.
However in recent times, he is attracted a large and constant following over his claims that vaccines, really helpful and championed by the nation’s public well being companies, are harmful. That is regardless of a long time of analysis, laboratory testing and real-world use that reveals childhood vaccinations have prevented tens of millions of deaths.
“There’s no vaccine that’s secure and efficient,” Kennedy mentioned on a podcast in July 2023. Throughout a Fox Information interview the identical 12 months, he mentioned he believes a repeatedly discredited idea that vaccines may cause autism. In latest days, Trump has more and more steered that the link between autism and vaccines needs to be studied — though a long time of research has already concluded there isn’t any connection between the 2.
Trump and Kennedy allies have promised not to remove vaccines, as a substitute saying they oppose authorities mandates and need to conduct extra analysis on the vaccines.
However about half of voters need the federal government to be extra concerned in making certain kids are vaccinated for childhood illnesses, in response to AP VoteCast.
About one-quarter mentioned the federal government’s present involvement on that is “about proper,” and solely about 2 in 10 wished the federal government to be much less concerned. However mother and father of school-age kids had been considerably extra prone to help a smaller authorities position: Roughly 3 in 10 mother and father of youngsters below 18 wished the federal government much less concerned, in contrast with about 2 in 10 voters with out kids below 18.
Amongst Trump’s voters, about one-third wished the federal government much less concerned in making certain kids are vaccinated for childhood illnesses.
The same share wished the federal government extra concerned, and about 3 in 10 mentioned its involvement was about proper. Roughly 4 in 10 Trump voters who’re mother and father of youngsters below 18 mentioned they need the federal government much less concerned in making certain kids are vaccinated, whereas about one-third mentioned they wished it extra concerned.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Youngsters’s Well being Protection, presently has a lawsuit pending in opposition to a variety of information organizations, amongst them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by taking motion to determine misinformation, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took go away from the group when he introduced his run for president however is listed as one among its attorneys within the lawsuit.
Most Republican voters preferred RFK Jr., and most Democrats didn’t
Individuals who voted within the presidential race this November held divided views on Kennedy, in response to AP VoteCast.
Kennedy had dropped out of the presidential race by that time, throwing his help behind Trump, however remained on the poll in some states.
About 4 in 10 voters had a really or considerably favorable opinion of Kennedy, and roughly 4 in 10 had a really or considerably unfavorable view. Barely greater than 1 in 10 didn’t know sufficient about Kennedy to have an opinion.
Republican voters — about two-thirds — had been extra prone to maintain a good view of Kennedy, a lot increased than the roughly 2 in 10 Democrats who considered him positively. In the meantime, about 7 in 10 Democrats had a detrimental opinion of Kennedy, with about half saying that they had a “very unfavorable” view.
___
The AP-NORC ballot of 1,251 adults was carried out Dec. 5-9, 2024, utilizing a pattern drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be consultant of the U.S. inhabitants. The margin of sampling error for adults total is plus or minus 3.7 share factors.
AP VoteCast was a survey of the American citizens carried out by NORC on the College of Chicago for Fox Information, PBS NewsHour, The Wall Avenue Journal and The Related Press. The survey of greater than 120,000 voters was carried out for eight days, concluding as polls closed. Interviews had been carried out in English and Spanish. The survey combines a random pattern of registered voters drawn from state voter information; self-identified registered voters utilizing NORC’s chance based mostly AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be consultant of the U.S. inhabitants; and self-identified registered voters chosen from nonprobability on-line panels. The margin of sampling error for voters total is estimated to be plus or minus 0.4 share factors. Discover extra particulars about AP VoteCast’s methodology at https://ap.org/votecast.
Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
