Rural MAHA followers say Trump hasn’t improved health of their communities, poll finds
The AP-KFF national survey of more than 2,000 rural registered voters found that about half of rural voters identify with Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the political movement championed by the Trump administration. Yet about 8 in 10 rural voters—an important voting bloc for Trump and Republicans—said the administration's policies have had a negative effect or no impact on the health of people where they live. Among MAHA supporters, 68% also said the same, signaling a disconnect between MAHA-branded policy priorities and rural America's perception of their reach and effectiveness.
Iowa pastor Mike Jager, 58, a registered Republican who considers himself part of MAHA, said Trump's health policies have had a 'minimal' impact on his community's health, though he said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is moving the needle 'in the right direction.' 'It's a beginning,' Jager said. 'It's a big ship to try and turn around and course-correct.' Kennedy has used the MAHA label to support various agendas, including abandoning long-standing vaccine guidance, researching ultraprocessed foods, and investing in regenerative agriculture. Jager lives in Sumner, Iowa, 'less than a quarter mile from where the corn ends and the city begins,' and has seen family members and neighbors develop diseases he believes resulted in part from exposure to agricultural chemicals and consumption of unhealthy, processed foods.
In the June Republican primary for governor, Jager voted for Zach Lahn, a businessman and farmer who ran on a MAHA platform and beat Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra; Jager plans to vote for him again in November. Many rural voters are prioritizing health issues: about two-thirds of rural MAHA supporters said it is 'extremely' or 'very' important to vote for a candidate who also supports MAHA, compared with only 4 in 10 rural voters overall.
Trump sought to seize on MAHA support during his campaign for another term two years ago. Now, amid tight midterm races, Kennedy has campaigned to galvanize the movement, attending a MAHA bill signing with Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in May and going fishing with Lahn in August, posting about it on social media. But the survey indicates voters are noticing 'this weird split in the Trump administration' between what Kennedy messages and what Trump says and does, said David Peterson, a political science professor at Iowa State University. In Iowa, concerns about rising cancer rates are 'a big deal,' he said, and for many MAHA identifiers, being healthy includes taking on corporate agriculture and pharmaceutical companies they think cause cancer.