Many Americans support some of RFK Jr.'s health agenda: Survey
Certain parts of the Make America Healthy Again agenda touted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have the backing of the majority of Democrats and Republicans, a new YouGov poll found.
The survey showed that overall, 78 percent of U.S. citizens strongly or somewhat support mandatory nutrition education in federally funded schools. The percentage was even higher for Democrats, at 84 percent, and Republicans, at 83 percent, the poll found.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans have heard about Make American Healthy Again, which comprises 48 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans, the poll showed. U.S. citizens also have a more favorable than unfavorable view of the movement, 36 percent to 11 percent.
The percentage of Democrats who strongly or somewhat support banning certain food additives, including food dyes, is tied with U.S. citizens overall, with 74 percent support, the poll revealed. Eighty-one percent of Republicans back the ban, the survey found.
But the partisan divide grew when it came to slightly more controversial ideas that Kennedy has floated, like lifting restrictions on the sale of raw milk or removing fluoride from water.
While 32 percent of Democrats strongly or somewhat supported removing fluoride from water, 56 percent of Republicans said the same, the poll found. On lifting restrictions of the sale of raw milk, one-fourth of Democrats strongly or somewhat supported the idea, compared to nearly half, 49 percent, of Republicans that back the move, the survey showed.
Of the issues that U.S. citizens said were "very important" for the government to address, food safety, air and water quality, and health care access clocked in as the top three at 80 percent, 74 percent and 73 percent, respectively, the poll showed.
Democrats and Republicans were also more aligned on the issue of food safety, with the most Republicans, 77 percent, putting it as their top issue for the government to address, the survey revealed. Food safety, at 87 percent support, was Democrats' second highest health-related issue, after health insurance, which 88 percent of Democrats wanted the government to address, the poll found.
The survey also revealed that most Americans also favor more regulation, particularly on the pharmaceutical industry, at 74 percent, the health insurance industry, at 64 percent, the health care industry, at 60 percent, and the food and beverage industry, at 57 percent.
The poll was conducted from Nov. 19 to 20 among 1,064 U.S. adult citizens. The margin of error was approximately 4 percentage points.