President Trump is struggling to win over MAHA voters, according to a new poll.
Supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement played a notable role in the 2024 election after Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Trump late in the cycle.
Following his withdrawal, Kennedy’s supporters were organized by groups such as the MAHA Alliance Super PAC, which worked to mobilize undecided and independent voters, particularly in key swing states, in favor of Trump’s candidacy.
But new polling shows those voters are now turning against the Trump administration.
The latest POLITICO poll, conducted between March 13 and 18 among 3,851 U.S. adults, shows that Americans are deeply skeptical about the progress that Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign has made, with most voters viewing Democrats as better positioned to handle key health priorities ahead of the 2026 midterms.
According to the poll, 52 percent of Americans believe the Trump administration has not done enough to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Among them are 41 percent of Trump’s 2024 voters, and 47 percent of self-identified MAHA voters.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The poll also shows that many respondents see Democrats as stronger on the MAHA movement’s top health priorities.
Voters were more likely to trust Democrats to make the country healthier, with 33 percent saying so compared to 29 percent for Republicans, and 34 percent saying Democrats are more eager to improve health outcomes versus 29 percent for the GOP.
Republicans, meanwhile, are viewed as more susceptible to influence from food and pesticide industry lobbyists, two of MAHA’s primary targets, with 29 percent saying the GOP is swayed by these interests compared to 24 percent for Democrats on food and 21 percent on pesticides.
MAHA supporters also prioritize issues Democrats have championed, such as combating infectious diseases, regulating “forever chemicals,” and expanding access to reproductive health care.
Policies less popular among the movement, like restricting abortion or reducing vaccines, are more closely associated with Republican positions.
Among all respondents, 41 percent support limiting vaccines, including 58 percent of Trump 2024 voters versus 29 percent of Harris 2024 voters, underscoring sharp partisan divides on health issues within MAHA.
The data is a warning sign for the Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms, where polls already show Democrats leading on a generic ballot.
“People that we would call a ‘MAHA’ voter, they’re not partisans. They really are up for grabs,” Rep. Lauren Underwood told POLITICO.
“[Republicans] have really taken actions to alienate those folks, to break the promises that they made. They are no longer focusing on the core tenets of that Make America Healthy Again platform in order to continue to please Donald Trump, and also to advance their policy agenda.”
The Trump administration has mostly pursued a deregulatory agenda, even as MAHA supporters call for stricter rules on pesticide, food, and drug companies.
Its recent decision to let Bayer expand production of Roundup, a controversial weed killer originally manufactured by Monsanto, has particularly angered MAHA voters after Kennedy previously claimed Monsanto was aware glyphosate could cause cancer, helping win a $289 million jury verdict against the company in 2018, according to the New York Times.
“I can’t envision a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom than this,” Ken Cook, a MAHA advocate and co-founder of Environmental Working Group, told the New York Times following the decision.
Meanwhile, allies of Kennedy have warned the GOP not to take MAHA supporters for granted.
Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action, a pro-Kennedy advocacy group, said in a memo obtained by POLITICO that Republicans are only “renting MAHA voters” and have yet to “purchase” their loyalty.
Still, the poll shows that Americans don’t consider the nation’s health a top issue heading into the midterms. Only 19 percent rank healthcare access as the most important issue, meaning it is unlikely to be a decisive factor in how voters cast their ballot in the 2026 midterms.
But strategists warn that Republicans shouldn’t be complacent about health care concerns, with Lyons warning Republicans should be talking about discouraging Americans from eating ultraprocessed food on the campaign trail, one of Kennedy Jr.’s key policy areas.
“Republicans have to be working from the perspective of ‘everything matters,’” Republican aide Rodney Whitlock told POLITICO. “To do differently is political suicide.”
