Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outside the White House on September 9. A new poll reveals a deep partisan divide, with Republicans trusting Kennedy as much as their own doctor, but he is unpopular among Democrats and independents.
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
What people think about health care increasingly depends on what they think about politics, according to a new poll.
Consider President Trump’s September 22 warning regarding acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. KFF, the nonpartisan health policy research organization, surveyed voters about Trump’s statements the day after they were made.
“What we’re seeing is there’s a huge divide among partisans,” says Ashley Kirzinger, deputy polling director for KFF. The poll found that 59% of Democrats thought President Trump’s statements about Tylenol were “definitely false.” On the other hand, a nearly equal percentage of Republicans — 56 percent — thought the statement was “definitely true” or “probably true.”
No scientific research demonstrates a causal link between acetaminophen and autism. But Trump urged pregnant women to “hold on” and avoid taking the popular painkiller during an unusual news conference last month. Doctor groups, meanwhile, continue to reiterate that it is the safest drug to take during pregnancy, when untreated fever or pain can cause other problems.
The poll, which also asked voters about other topics, offers a glimpse into the dramatic shift in public opinion, as well as federal health policies.
The poll finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen a precipitous decline in public trust — most recently among Democrats, as the Trump administration works to dismantle many of its mandates. Kirzinger notes a 24% decline in Democrats’ trust in CDC vaccine information in the last two years alone.
Kirzinger says surveys have consistently found that people trust their doctors most when it comes to getting advice about their own health. But increasingly — and especially after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services secretary — she says party lines are more critical in determining the sources of information people rely on to make their health decisions. “Among Republicans, RFK is as trusted…as their own health care provider,” Kirzinger said, according to the data.
And yet, overall, the approval rating for Kennedy’s work is low; the poll also found that 59 percent of people — mostly Democrats and independents — disapproved.
Kirzinger says that as trust in federal health agencies declines, people are turning to very different sources.
Democrats say they rely on professional medical groups, like the American Medical Association. “More than eight in 10 Democrats say they trust the AMA or the American Academy of Pediatrics, but among Republicans it’s only about half,” Kirzinger says.
This means that the public health landscape is highly fragmented and people make choices based on widely disparate beliefs. “As people turn to different sources of information to make decisions about their health care, we’re going to see partisanship play a significant role in what people decide to do,” she says.
