Iowa Republicans Want Vaccine Skeptic RFK Jr. the FDA or CDC will lead, a new poll shows
Iowa Republican voters would like to see vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr. will be put in charge of regulating U.S. medicines or leading the nation’s public health effort, according to an exclusive new poll, even though he’s running for president as a Democratic nominee.
RFK Jr. has become known for pushing debunked theories about vaccines and bizarre ideas about viruses.
But a survey of 600 Iowa Republicans likely to play a role in choosing the GOP nominee for 2024 found that his attack on the health establishment is gaining momentum.
They supported the idea of putting him in charge of the Centers for Disease Control or the Food and Drug Administration by a margin of almost three to one.
About 48 percent supported the proposal, introduced last month by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his candidacy for president. Only 17 percent said they were against.
JL Partners surveyed 600 likely Republican caucus attendees in Iowa from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7. The results have a margin of error of +/- four percent
Robert J Kennedy Jr. scores about 15 percent in the Democratic primary. But his attack on the health facility has won him admirers on the right of the Republican Party
It illustrates how RFK Jr.’s distance campaign has attracted Republicans who want their candidate to stand up to a scientific consensus that they believe has failed during the pandemic.
His name also comes up in discussions about choosing a vice president.
About 40 percent of respondents said he could be a good running mate for the eventual Republican nominee, including half of those who said they supported former President Donald Trump.
But opinions are more divided than putting him in charge of a health agency. About 29 percent said they opposed putting him on the Republican 2024 ticket.
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners who conducted the poll for DailyMail.com, said: “RFK may not appeal to Democrats, but he is certainly pushing the right Republican buttons.
While controversial as a GOPVP choice, he is seen as an attractive tenure at the FDA or CDC
“This isn’t the kind of thing that would have a big impact on voters in either direction, but it does show that DeSantis’ comments were less in touch with his electorate than some Republican talking heads may have suggested.”
His promotion of theories circulating the darkest corners of the internet alarms health professionals and centrist candidates alike.
But DeSantis appeared to offer him a job during an interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis, who asked him about Kennedy as a possible running mate.
Republican voters are more divided on whether RFK Jr would make a good VP pick
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen here Friday in Atlantic, Iowa, floated the idea during an interview last month that Kennedy could take on a health role under his administration
Focus moves to Iowa this week as candidates flock to the state fair. Former Vice President Mike Pence poses here for selfies with his wife Karen
He dismissed that notion, pointing out that Kennedy was out of step with many Republicans on issues such as climate change.
“If you’re president, you know, put him on FDA if he’s willing to serve, or put him on CDC,” he said.
The idea was quickly condemned by other Republicans in the race. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who said “pro-abortion Democrats” would not get such roles if he won the election.
DeSantis later changed course, saying he meant Kennedy could be a good fit for a bipartisan task force that would audit agencies.
“It wouldn’t… he would be the head of CDC,” he said. “That would be a doctor or a PhD.”
The Kennedy campaign did not respond to questions about whether he was interested in these roles.
In the Democratic primary, he consistently gets about 15 percent, according to a rolling average tracked by the political website FiveThirtyEight.
Republicans have picked up on his attacks on Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the faces of the Trump administration’s pandemic response.
Former Donald Trump is still the clear leader in our poll of Iowa Republicans
He has said he would prosecute Fauci if “crimes were committed.”
But any formal role in government would be highly controversial.
His anti-vaccination stance dates back to at least 2005 and he continues to push unverified and debunked theories.
Last month, he claimed in a podcast interview that “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and clings to a false scientific report that mumps, measles, and rubella vaccines can cause autism in children.
Speaking at a fundraiser at a New York restaurant, he reportedly said COVID-19 was a biological weapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.
He later said the reporting was false and that he did not believe the virus was deliberately created to target any particular ethnic group.
“I never suggested that the COVID-19 virus was intended to spare Jews,” Kennedy wrote on Twitter.
Instead, he said he had wanted to show that the virus provided a proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons.
(TagsToTranslate)daily post