What Americans think of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his health stances

Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she's also had her own weight struggles on the scale.

That's why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pledge to "Make America Healthy Again" as he campaigned alongside Donald Trump caught her attention. She liked the questions Kennedy raised about the role of processed foods in America's obesity epidemic.

"I'm a junk food person," said Mejia, an ardent Trump supporter. "I started wondering where those extra pounds came from."

After hearing Kennedy out, she concluded: "We cannot trust the health organizations we've trusted for years to tell us that our foods are safe."

Republicans like Mejia embraced Kennedy, whose alliance with the president-elect could make the prominent environmentalist and vaccine skeptic the nation's top health official next year.

Republicans hold an overwhelmingly positive view of Kennedy, with most approving of Trump's decision to put him in his administration, according to recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in the 2024 presidential election.

But Americans overall are less positive about Kennedy, and there isn't broad support for some of his views, which include closer scrutiny of vaccines.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy will be charged with leading the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1.7 trillion agency that researches cancer, approves prescription drugs and provides health insurance for about half the country.

What Americans think about RFK Jr.

About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Kennedy's appointment to Trump's Cabinet and only about 1 in 10 disapprove, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in December, while the rest aren't familiar with him or didn't have an opinion.

He's found allies in the most conservative corners of the Republican Party. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts credited Kennedy at an event on Wednesday for "sounding the alarm for years" about what he sees as the dangerous nexus of government agencies, nonprofits and corporations that made Americans sicker and more obese.

Kennedy's talk of healthy foods is what captured the attention of Natalie Moralez, a 32-year-old engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who identifies as an independent.

She likes his promises to take on powerful companies. She's eager to see him challenge the ingredients they use in the food she finds on supermarket shelves.

"Even just buying foods from the grocery store, like what else is in there?" Moralez said. "That's my main concern, and hopefully he can figure out what the underlying issues are and see if we can do better."

Kennedy doesn't fare as well among Americans overall, 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 most powerful Democratic dynasties in the country, most Democrats said they don't like that he's been named to Trump's Cabinet. About 6 in 10 Democrats "strongly disapprove" of the pick, the December poll found. That's a higher share of disapproval than other high-profile picks such as Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary or Marco Rubio for secretary of state.

Anti-vaccine stance isn't popular

Kennedy started his career as an environmental lawyer and won big lawsuits against companies over the chemicals used in weed killers and heavy metal smelters.

But in recent years, he attracted a sizable and loyal following over his claims that vaccines, recommended and championed by the nation's public health agencies, are dangerous. That's despite decades of research, laboratory testing and real-world use that shows childhood vaccinations prevented millions of deaths.

"There's no vaccine that is safe and effective," Kennedy said on a podcast in July 2023. During a Fox News interview the same year, he said he believes a repeatedly discredited idea that vaccines can cause autism.

In recent days, Trump increasingly suggested that the link between autism and vaccines should be studied — though decades of research already concluded there is no connection between the two.

Trump and Kennedy allies promised not to take away vaccines, instead saying they oppose government mandates and want to conduct more research on the vaccines.

But about half of voters want the government to be more involved in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases, according to AP VoteCast.

About one-quarter said the government's current involvement on this is "about right," and only about 2 in 10 wanted the government to be less involved. But parents of school-age children were somewhat more likely to support a smaller government role: About 3 in 10 parents of children under 18 wanted the government less involved, compared with about 2 in 10 voters without children under 18.

Among Trump's voters, about one-third wanted the government less involved in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases.

Kennedy's anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children's Health Defense, has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.