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Poll: MAHA

This Navigator Research report covers perceptions of health and wellness policies in the United States and message guidance to meet the moment.

As we explored in the first report on the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement, Americans across the political spectrum share a wide range of values on health and wellness. This is borne out in their agreement on certain policies and the role of government in advancing health and wellness.

The Policies

There is overwhelming bi-partisan support for health and wellness policies that seek to make health insurance cover preventative care, increase exercise and physical activity in school, remove highly processed foods from schools and artificial food dyes from all foods, hold corporations who pollute accountable, and use federal funds to invest in medical research.

Other popular policies include banning “forever chemicals” from drinking water, decreasing pesticide and herbicide use in commercial agriculture, having health insurance cover gym memberships, making GLP-1s like Ozempic accessible and affordable for eligible Americans, and bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test in schools.

Less popular and more partisan are eliminating fluoride from public drinking water (43 percent support) and defunding mRNA vaccine research (just 26 percent support). These policies receive the most support among the MAHA loyalist cohort.

Anti-vaccine policies are the most controversial and opposed: a majority of Americans oppose making all vaccines optional, including for students attending public schools, ending all vaccine mandates, and banning the coronavirus vaccine entirely in the U.S.

The “MAHA curious” cohort are more divided than the overall electorate, but still more oppose ending all vaccine mandates, making all vaccines optional, and banning the coronavirus vaccine.

Vaccines

Actions to remove vaccine mandates for children are opposed by most, including those who are MAHA curious. Changes to childhood vaccine mandates in Florida draw fervent opposition (63 percent oppose), including among independents (60 percent) and the MAHA curious (54 percent). These sweeping changes outright divide Republicans (46 percent support – 44 percent oppose).

The anti-vaccine movement is viewed overwhelmingly negatively across party lines (-41), including by Republicans (-7), the MAHA curious (-31), independents (-44), and Democrats (-72).

Bipartisan majorities of Americans identify generally as “pro-vaccine” (68 percent) over “anti-vaccine” (20 percent). 12 percent say they are neither pro-vaccine nor anti-vaccine, including 21 percent of the MAHA curious.

The coronavirus vaccine is where we find the most division. Americans overwhelmingly view the measles vaccine favorably (+66), including the MAHA curious (+49). By comparison, the coronavirus vaccine is viewed favorably by 11 points, and underwater among the MAHA curious (-18).

And when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine in particular, we see a 10-point drop in those who identify as pro-vaccine (59 percent), increasing anti-vaccine identification among both independents and Republicans and the MAHA curious.

A reminder that the MAHA curious group is deeply unfavorable to the anti-vaccine movement, oppose ending all vaccine mandates and the changes to vaccine mandates in Florida, and identify as “pro-vaccine” generally. All of this begs the question; how much of this is a COVID hangover or something that will have a lasting impact on public health and trust in vaccines?

Messaging to Meet the Moment

A message that addresses the faults in our health care system and focuses on cracking down on corporate interests is the best lane for progressives, including with MAHA curious Americans. In response to the conservative message that:

We need to get the government and corporate special interests out of the business of telling us what we should put in our bodies. Whether it’s vaccines, food additives, or toxins in the ground, Americans are better off doing their own research rather than listening to the so-called “experts” who put their own bottom line first.

We found the most persuasive response to be a message that acknowledge our health care system is broken, refutes the GOP solution, and provides an alternative, in particular cracking down on special interest influence:

Our health care system is broken, but the answer is not to cut medical research, take away healthy school meal options from kids, or limit vaccines. Instead we should be cracking down on special interest influence in our government and putting science and facts ahead of politics

Six in ten agree more with the latter, including the MAHA curious and independents. A version of the same message that concedes that “for too long, corporations have had too much power over our food and health care” is similarly effective.

The most persuasive hit on Republican policies emphasizes cuts to Medicaid and school meals, as well as cuts to government-funded disease research.

Republicans are cutting crucial health and wellness programs. They’ve cut Medicaid, taken away free healthy school meal options from kids, and made massive cuts to lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. None of this makes America healthier

Messages that solely take on corporate polluters, focus only on big corporations, and the idea that Republicans are trusting the wrong people for public health advice, are convincing to the institutionalists, but are far less convincing to MAHA curious audiences.

Poll: MAHA

This Navigator Research report covers the latest perceptions of health and wellness in the United States. 

The “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement espouses ideas that range from common sense to fringe — with the purported aim of tackling America’s chronic disease crisis. As Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun to reshape the nation’s public health establishment, many of his ideas pull on two simple threads: fear of sickness and frustration with our health care system. And, while there has been a decline in satisfaction and confidence with Americans’ health care coverage, the debate is not simply about health insurance, but more specifically about who and what Americans’ trust to keep them well. 

The Establishment

Just 32 percent of Americans overwhelmingly are very satisfied with their own health care coverage and just 29 percent are very confident in their ability to access quality, affordable health care for the foreseeable future. 

Just half of Americans are positive about the overall quality of health care Americans receive in the country today, a five point drop from February 2020. Just 39 percent give a positive rating to the availability and affordability of health care nationally. Millennials are the least satisfied with their own coverage, confidence in ability to access care, and rating of the overall quality of health care in the country. 

Perceptions of the public health establishment are lukewarm, if not positive, but declining: in a January survey, 63 percent rated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) favorably, including a majority of independents. The CDC has taken a partisan hit since the pandemic: in March of 2020 its favorability was +62, it now sits at +38. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is also favorable to a plurality of Americans. 

RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement are far more divisive than these institutions. The MAHA movement is favorable to a narrow plurality (+7), and RFK Jr. has seen a precipitous drop since his tense congressional hearing (-12), shifting 10 points in the last month (from -2). 

While the cohort that intensely supports RFK Jr. and MAHA make up between 15 to 20 percent of the electorate and are largely conservative, the pathways into MAHA are not purely based on the pundits and vocal MAHA advocates, but more so on the values MAHA claims. 

The Values 

An overwhelming majority of Americans across partisanship believe basic values about health and wellness:

• It should be easier for every American family to access fresh fruits and vegetables (86 percent);

• We need to hold corporate polluters accountable and keep them from pouring toxic chemicals into the air we breathe and the water we drink (86 percent);

• Good health care is a human right that all American families should have access to (84 percent); 

• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet is just as important as regular visits to the doctor (86 percent); and,
• The government should make it more affordable for American families to stay healthy (84 percent).

Where there is slightly more division, but still overwhelming agreement is on trusted sources, vaccines, and the health industry, but seven-in-ten still agree on the following:

• Doctors and scientists should be trusted more than politicians or influencers to share medical advice (79 percent);
• It’s alarming that America has a serious chronic disease problem and worse health outcomes than any other developed nation (72 percent);
• It’s important for children to be vaccinated (71 percent); and,
• Our health system is designed so drug and insurance companies make more money when Americans are sick (71 percent).

The most divisive beliefs focus on skepticism of hormonal birth control, vaccines, and a preference to “do your own research” over trusting doctors. 

 Trusted Sources

Americans overwhelmingly say they trust doctors and health care professionals to help them make the right decisions about medicine and health (77 percent), though many also say they turn to social media and online sources for information. Many also rely on friends and family, as well as news articles. With the rise of the health and wellness industry in online spaces, it is difficult to quantify what information is deemed as trustworthy or just another piece of content served up by the algorithm.

When it comes to political leaders and health, Democrats have a clear advantage over Republicans. Democrats are more trusted on health care broadly (+17), health and wellness (+15), vaccines and disease prevention (+18) and public health (net +14), including among most independents for each. When given the option of “not trusting either Democrats or Republicans” on these issues, a plurality of independents opt for it. In this scenario, Democrats lose ground while Republican trust remains stable when the option for neither is introduced. 

MAHA Curious

In an effort to understand those who are somewhat skeptical of our health system but not completely against institutions and traditional medicine, we segmented the electorate into three groups: institutionalists (answered solely option A), MAHA-loyalists (answered solely option B), and MAHA-curious (answered a mix of A and B), based on which response they agreed with:

Trusted Sources: 

A: Doctors and health professionals go through years of training and education, and I trust them to help my family make the right decisions about medicine and health (77 percent agree)

B: Nobody knows better than me what medical care and food choices are right for my family (23 percent agree)

Medical Reliance: 

A: Medicine like vaccines and prescription drugs have saved millions and millions of lives, and can do a lot of good that alternative medical treatments simply can’t do (68 percent agree)

B: We have become overly reliant on things like vaccines and prescription drugs and instead should return to using more alternative medical treatments, like supplements and healthier foods (32 percent agree)

Governmental Role:  

A: The government should protect Americans by making sure we have access to every medicine and vaccine we can to keep us safe from dangerous diseases, even if that means approving some treatments before we understand all the possible side effects (60 percent agree)

B: The government should protect Americans from chemicals that could be dangerous and toxins in medical treatments, even if that means restricting access to medicines that could help some people (40 percent agree)

The MAHA-curious cohort makes up 43 percent of the electorate, but for the purposes of analysis we will focus on those in this bucket who are not strong Democrats or strong Republicans, which make up 20 percent of the electorate. 

In part two of our report, we will go through the specific policies and messages that meet these voters where they are on the issue of health and wellness.