CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Thursday said that while Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “ain’t exactly popular,” recent polling shows he’s the “most popular” key official in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
Enten, in a segment that aired prior to the conspiracy theorist’s catastrophic Senate hearing, turned to net favorable ratings (percent in favor minus percent not in favor) showing Kennedy at -7.
The figure is better than the net favorable ratings of Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-10), Vice President JD Vance (-11) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (-14), per Enten.
“So, no, RFK Jr. is not a drag on President Trump. He’s not the most embattled,” said Enten, who noted that his net favorable analysis featured the four key Trump officials that CNN had “recent polling on.”
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Kennedy, one of the nation’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, was slammed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over his vaccine policies on Thursday.
He’s faced calls for his resignation from medical experts, over 1,000 current and former staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services, Democrats and his own family following recent chaos at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Medical decisions belong in the hands of trained and licensed professionals, not incompetent and misguided leadership,” wrote Kerry Kennedy, the health secretary’s sister, in a post to X on Friday.
“The decimation of critical institutions like the NIH and the CDC will lead to the loss of innocent lives. This means that children, mothers, fathers, and those you love are at risk now, like never before. … Enough is enough. Secretary Kennedy must resign.