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CV NEWS FEED // Republicans overwhelmingly support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to polls from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AP VoteCast.
The AP-NORC poll found that 61% of Republicans approve of Kennedy, and only 11% disapproved. The remaining percentages didn’t know how they felt about him or didn’t have an opinion.
Similar numbers of Republicans (two-thirds) approved of Kennedy in November during the presidential election after he dropped out of the race and supported Trump.
Democrats were significantly less likely to support Kennedy’s nomination to lead the HHS, with only 8% approving of his nomination and 73% disapproving. Among Americans overall, 30% approve of his nomination and 42% do not.
Kennedy’s supporters say they appreciate his attention to the issues of obesity and unhealthy eating in America, according to AP News. Kennedy’s views on vaccines have also earned him significant support. In July 2023, Kennedy reportedly said during a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” He stated in another interview that he subscribes to the idea that vaccines can cause autism.
However, “Trump and Kennedy allies have promised not to take away vaccines, instead saying they oppose government mandates and want to conduct more research on the vaccines,” AP News reported.
Voters who responded to the poll were also divided on their views of government involvement in childhood vaccination. Roughly one-third of Trump supporters said they wanted less government involvement, about the same amount said they wanted the government to be more involved, and roughly 30% said the current government involvement was fine.
Overall, about half of voters said they wanted more government involvement in childhood vaccination, while roughly one in four said the current amount of involvement was “about right.” However, voters who have children were more likely to disapprove of government involvement: About 30% wanted less involvement, compared to the roughly 20% of voters without children who said the same thing.
