By AMANDA SEITZ and LINLEY SANDERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The youngsters 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 dimensions.
That’s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to “Make America Wholesome Once more” as he campaigned alongside Donald Trump caught her consideration. She favored the questions Kennedy raised in regards to the function of processed meals in America’s weight problems epidemic.
“I’m a junk meals individual,” stated Mejia, an ardent Trump supporter. “I began questioning the place these additional 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 similar to Mejia have embraced Kennedy, whose alliance with the president-elect might make the distinguished environmentalist and vaccine skeptic the nation’s high well being official subsequent yr. Republicans maintain an overwhelmingly constructive view of Kennedy, with most approving of Trump’s resolution to place him in his administration, in line with current 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 Individuals total are much less constructive about Kennedy, and there isn’t broad assist for a few of his views, which embody nearer scrutiny of vaccines.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy will probably be charged with main the Division of Well being and Human Companies, a $1.7 trillion company that researches most cancers, approves prescribed drugs and offers medical insurance for roughly half the nation.
What Individuals take into consideration RFK Jr. as nation’s high 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 line with an AP-NORC ballot performed in December, whereas the remainder aren’t conversant in him or didn’t 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 corporations. And she or he’s desperate to see him problem the elements 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 stated. “That’s my predominant concern, and hopefully he can determine what the underlying points are and see if we will do higher.”
Kennedy doesn’t fare as effectively 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 probably the most highly effective Democratic dynasties within the nation, most Democrats stated they don’t like that he’s been named to Trump’s Cupboard. About 6 in 10 Democrats “strongly disapprove” of the choose, the December ballot discovered. That’s a better share of disapproval than different high-profile picks similar to Pete Hegseth to be protection secretary or Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
His anti-vaccine stance isn’t broadly common
Kennedy began his profession as an environmental lawyer and gained huge lawsuits in opposition to corporations over the chemical compounds utilized in weed killers and heavy metallic smelters.
However lately, he’s 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’s regardless of many years of analysis, laboratory testing and real-world use that exhibits childhood vaccinations have prevented thousands and thousands of deaths.
“There’s no vaccine that’s secure and efficient,” Kennedy stated on a podcast in July 2023. Throughout a Fox Information interview the identical yr, he stated he believes a repeatedly discredited thought that vaccines may cause autism. In current days, Trump has more and more instructed that the hyperlink between autism and vaccines needs to be studied — though many years of analysis has already concluded there is no such thing as a 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 guaranteeing youngsters are vaccinated for childhood ailments, in line with AP VoteCast.
About one-quarter stated 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 youngsters had been considerably extra prone to assist a smaller authorities function: Roughly 3 in 10 dad and mom of kids underneath 18 needed the federal government much less concerned, in contrast with about 2 in 10 voters with out youngsters underneath 18.
Amongst Trump’s voters, about one-third needed the federal government much less concerned in guaranteeing youngsters are vaccinated for childhood ailments.
An identical share needed the federal government extra concerned, and about 3 in 10 stated its involvement was about proper. Roughly 4 in 10 Trump voters who’re dad and mom of kids underneath 18 stated they need the federal government much less concerned in guaranteeing youngsters are vaccinated, whereas about one-third stated they needed it extra concerned.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Kids’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 establish 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.
Most Republican voters favored RFK Jr., and most Democrats didn’t
Individuals who voted within the presidential race this November held divided views on Kennedy, in line with AP VoteCast.
Kennedy had dropped out of the presidential race by that time, throwing his assist 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 unfavorable opinion of Kennedy, with about half saying that they had a “very unfavorable” view.
The AP-NORC ballot of 1,251 adults was performed 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 voters performed 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 performed for eight days, concluding as polls closed. Interviews had been performed 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 likelihood 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.
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