GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Trust in federal health agencies falls along partisan lines, but both sides of the aisle want increased restrictions on food additives, processed foods and pesticides, according to a poll of New Jersey voters released today by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.
Democrats and Republicans are in lockstep with some of the more mainstream proposals associated with the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, or MAHA, spearheaded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
However, there were partisan differences on vaccines. Though majorities on both sides think childhood vaccinations are important and a net benefit, more than 1 in 5 Republicans think the risks of vaccines outweigh the benefits, compared to only 5% of Democrats who said the same.
“The MAHA movement is a sprawling umbrella that merges false or debunked claims, controversial rhetoric and anti-establishment sentiment with some more widely accepted ideas around food, health and wellness,” Hughes Center Head of Research Alyssa Maurice said in a release. “It doesn’t fit neatly into an ideological box, and we’re seeing that in these poll results, which are surprisingly unifying on some measures.”
The poll of 667 registered voters in New Jersey was conducted April 10-14 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.
Public health policy
Majorities of New Jersey voters want more stringent regulations around pharmaceuticals (65%) and the food and beverage industry (55%). A plurality of 40% also want agriculture to be more heavily regulated.
Voters support some of the policies championed by Kennedy, like banning certain food additives or food dyes (86%), increasing restrictions on the use of pesticides in agriculture (75%), banning processed foods from public school lunches (72%; among parents of school-age children, 80%) and banning the purchase of candy and soda with SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps (54%).
All of these proposals had bipartisan support except for restrictions on SNAP purchases, which 54% of Democrats opposed.
“Many of these agenda items were previously associated with the left and run counter to the Trump administration’s deregulatory approach to policymaking,” Maurice said. “Blue states like California led the way on food safety and other legislation meant to improve public health, but we’re now seeing similar bills emerge in Republican legislatures throughout the country. An unconventional coalition has formed on this, and New Jersey’s no exception.”
Vaccine confidence
Seventy-one percent of voters said it is very important for children to get vaccinated (93% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans and 63% of Independents), while 18% said it is somewhat important (4% of Democrats, 32% of Republicans, and 23% of Independents). A minority of 7% said it is not too important or not at all important for kids to get vaccinated (2% of Democrats, 10% of Republicans, and 11% of Independents).
Consistent with existing data, vaccines have become increasingly partisan. Democrats have the lowest rate of vaccine hesitancy. More than 1 in 5 Republicans said the risks of immunizations outweigh the benefits. That rate was 15% among Independents and only 5% among Democrats.
Created with Datawrapper Trust in federal health agencies
More than one-third (35%) of voters overall have no confidence in the federal government to ensure the safety of the food supply in the U.S., while 27% are not too confident, 26% are somewhat confident, and 12% are very confident.
The findings were similar when it comes to ensuring the safety of medical and pharmaceutical treatments, with a plurality of 37% saying they are not at all confident in the federal government to do so. One in four voters is not too confident, 26% are somewhat confident, and only 10% are very confident.
These views fall along partisan lines, with Republicans showing support for federal public health agencies under their current leadership. Majorities of Republicans are at least somewhat confident in the safety of the food supply (70%), as well as medical and pharmaceutical treatments (68%), but among Democrats, confidence rates are 21% and 27%, respectively. Independents land in the middle with confidence rates of 34% in the U.S. food supply and 31% in the government’s oversight of the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
“The findings show how politically polarizing federal health agencies have become. We see in public opinion on the economy that voters are happier with economic conditions when their party is in charge. In this poll, we’re seeing that same pattern with public health authorities,” Maurice said.
