WASHINGTON — The children seen by Dolores Mejia round suburban Phoenix have been rising heavier lately. Their dad and mom, too, she says.
Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she’s additionally had her personal weight struggles on the size.
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 appreciated the questions Kennedy raised concerning the function of processed meals in America’s weight problems epidemic.
“I’m a junk meals individual,” 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 equivalent to Mejia have embraced Kennedy, whose alliance with the president-elect might make the distinguished environmentalist and vaccine skeptic the nation’s prime well being official subsequent 12 months. Republicans maintain an overwhelmingly optimistic view of Kennedy, with most approving of Trump’s determination to place him in his administration, in keeping with latest polling from The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis and AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 voters within the 2024 presidential election.
However People total are much less optimistic about Kennedy, and there is not broad help for a few of his views, which embody nearer scrutiny of vaccines.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy will likely be charged with main the Division of Well being and Human Providers, a $1.7 trillion company that researches most cancers, approves prescribed drugs and offers medical insurance for roughly half the nation.
About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Kennedy’s appointment to Trump’s Cupboard and solely about 1 in 10 disapprove, in keeping with an AP-NORC ballot carried out in December, whereas the remaining aren’t aware of 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 unbiased.
She likes his guarantees to tackle highly effective corporations. And he or she’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 predominant concern, and hopefully he can work out what the underlying points are and see if we will do higher.”
Kennedy does not fare as effectively amongst People 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 probably the most 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 decide, the December ballot discovered. That is the next share of disapproval than different high-profile picks equivalent to Pete Hegseth to be protection secretary or Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
Kennedy began his profession as an environmental lawyer and received massive lawsuits in opposition to corporations over the chemical substances utilized in weed killers and heavy metallic smelters.
However lately, he is attracted a large and constant following over his claims that vaccines, advisable and championed by the nation’s public well being businesses, are harmful. That is regardless of many years of analysis, laboratory testing and real-world use that reveals childhood vaccinations have prevented thousands and thousands 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 concept that vaccines could cause autism. In latest days, Trump has more and more advised that the hyperlink between autism and vaccines ought to be studied — though many years of analysis has already concluded there isn’t any connection between the 2.
Trump and Kennedy allies have promised not to remove vaccines, as an alternative saying they oppose authorities mandates and wish 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 keeping with AP VoteCast.
About one-quarter mentioned the federal government’s present involvement on that is “about proper,” and solely about 2 in 10 needed the federal government to be much less concerned. However dad and mom of school-age kids had been considerably extra more likely to help a smaller authorities function: Roughly 3 in 10 dad and mom of kids below 18 needed 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 needed the federal government much less concerned in making certain kids are vaccinated for childhood illnesses.
An analogous share needed the federal government extra concerned, and about 3 in 10 mentioned its involvement was about proper. Roughly 4 in 10 Trump voters who’re dad and mom of kids below 18 mentioned they need the federal government much less concerned in making certain kids are vaccinated, whereas about one-third mentioned they needed it extra concerned.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Kids’s Well being Protection, presently has a lawsuit pending in opposition to plenty 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 in all its attorneys within the lawsuit.
Individuals who voted within the presidential race this November held divided views on Kennedy, in keeping with 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 more likely to maintain a good view of Kennedy, a lot larger than the roughly 2 in 10 Democrats who seen him positively. In the meantime, about 7 in 10 Democrats had a unfavourable opinion of Kennedy, with about half saying that they had a “very unfavorable” view.
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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 proportion factors.
AP VoteCast was a survey of the American voters 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 recordsdata; 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 proportion factors. Discover extra particulars about AP VoteCast’s methodology at https://ap.org/votecast.
