While American parents overwhelmingly back cracking down on highly processed foods, dyes and added sugars in food, about 4 in 10 support the "Make America Healthy Again" movement that targets them, a Washington Post-KFF poll finds.
The poll of parents this summer found broad bipartisan support for much of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s concerns about the food supply. But support for the MAHA movement he started skews along partisan lines, with Republican parents far more likely to identify with the cause championed by a scion of one of the most famous Democratic families.
Sixty-two percent of Republican parents consider themselves a MAHA supporter, including more than 8 in 10 parents who identify as "Make America Great Again" Republicans. In contrast, about one-third of independent parents and 17 percent of Democrats said they identify with the movement, as did 30 percent of non-MAGA Republicans.
"That suggests to me that for the average parent, MAHA is more of a political identity than one that's really deeply rooted in the goals of the movement," said Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research and news organization.
The MAHA movement emerged from last year's political alliance between President Donald Trump and Kennedy, who ended his independent presidential campaign to endorse Trump. It merges Kennedy's rhetoric of bashing corporate interests - language typical of the left - with the Trumpian MAGA branding. Republican operatives have credited Kennedy for helping to woo some left-leaning and independent voters for Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
The movement - focused on chronic diseases and childhood illness - has multiple factions, including those pushing for healthier foods, major changes to vaccines and alternative medicine.
Christian Gabis, a father of three children in elementary school who lives in Columbus, Ohio and identifies as a Democrat, said he's "all for" cutting down on dyes, sugar and sodium in foods. But Gabis, 40, said he can't get on board with the MAHA movement because he feels many of its ideas aren't grounded in science, including criticism of vaccines and support for raw milk.
"The issue I take with it is some of it comes from a not very rigorous scientific look at things and more of a feeling," he said.
The Post-KFF poll offers the most detailed look at how American parents view MAHA since Trump was sworn into office. Trump promised to let Kennedy "go wild" on food, medicines and health issues. Trump's allies think the movement could help boost the GOP in next year's midterm elections.
At least 8 in 10 parents support increasing government regulations on food dyes and additives, highly processed food and added sugars, the Post-KFF poll found. That includes more than 80 percent of Republican parents who support those efforts.
Jessica Bee, 39, who operates a 26-acre farm in Appleton, Wisconsin, and identifies as a Republican, said she doesn't know what the MAHA movement is. But she called Kennedy "a pretty decent guy" and said she appreciated his actions to get red dye out of foods. Her family drinks raw milk from their cows. They also raise chickens and have a vegetable garden.
"We try to stay away from store-bought foods because it's basically cancer in a can," she said.
The food industry used to view Republicans, who are wary of sweeping government regulation, as allies, and some GOP politicians blasted former first lady Michelle Obama's efforts to design healthier school menus.
Kennedy has largely avoided implementing new government regulations and instead has tried to cajole the industry to change. He has pushed for the food industry to voluntarily phase out synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, securing commitments from major companies and trade groups. A September report from the White House's MAHA Commission chaired by Kennedy did not propose sweeping restrictions on ultra-processed foods, which studies have increasingly linked to health problems.
Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine organization, has also initiated efforts to revise the childhood immunization schedule, a goal of some MAHA activists.
While MAHA parents are more likely than non-MAHA parents to skip or delay a childhood vaccine aside from covid or the flu, three-quarters of MAHA parents said they keep their children up-to-date on immunizations.
Parents who support MAHA are more likely to express vaccine-skeptical attitudes and are far less likely than those who don't to say it's important for children to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or the flu. However, almost 8 in 10 MAHA parents are confident in the safety of the polio and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shots. Fifty-six percent said they trust Kennedy for reliable vaccine information, compared with 23 percent of those who don't identify with the movement.
The Democratic-aligned polling firm Navigator Research recently held focus groups observed by The Post to understand how adults who are skeptical of the health care establishment but do not have strong partisan allegiances view MAHA. The Post was allowed to observe the sessions on the condition the participants would not be named. The participants embraced changes to food policy and denounced a broken health care system, but some viewed the MAHA movement with suspicion because of politics. "It's a play off of "Make America Great Again," which is notoriously a political thing, and it's made up by somebody who is a politician," a participant in a group of women said.
While some nutritionists have applauded the MAHA focus on healthier diets, they have expressed concern that the movement puts too much onus on the individual to change their lifestyle without addressing the barriers some Americans face in accessing healthier foods.
Laura Miles, 41, a mother of two, said she finds the MAHA movement appealing, invoking unhealthy meals at her local school. She started packing her 17-year-old son salads with chicken for lunch instead of the chocolate milk and canned peas served at school.
But Miles, a Republican who lives in Buffalo, said she worries buying healthier foods is a strain on her budget.
"I'm kind of on the fence because if we're going to try to make us healthy again, are we going to be able to afford it?" she said. "Eating healthy is expensive right now."
The Trump administration's MAHA commission has pledged to work with states on an awareness campaign to "Make American Schools Healthy Again" aimed at increasing nutritional options and physical activity.
In May, the commission released an assessment that blamed poor nutrition, physical inactivity, environmental toxins and overprescription of medication as potential drivers of childhood chronic diseases. It said that American children have "transitioned from an active, play-based childhood to a sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle," and noted the growing evidence around the role social media can play in teenagers' mental health.
The poll finds parents broadly agree on some of the biggest issues the commission identified as drivers of chronic diseases. More than 6 in 10 parents, regardless of their views on MAHA, cite social media use and mental health challenges as either the biggest threat or a major threat to children's health.
Majorities of both groups also said that highly processed foods, obesity and lack of physical activity are major threats, though the shares were larger for parents who identify with MAHA.
But there were some areas where their views diverged.
MAHA parents are more likely to believe the overprescribing of medications, neurodevelopmental disorders and fluoride in drinking water pose major threats to children's health. Parents who don't identify with MAHA are more likely to cite gun violence, pollution, difficulty affording enough food and infectious diseases as the biggest or major threats.
Reports from the MAHA Commission have not mentioned gun violence, which was the leading cause of death for children and teens in 2020 and 2021 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.