Voters are concerned about the current food system and want changes to make healthy food more affordable and accessible. They support limiting subsidies to large farms and providing incentives for sustainable farming. Messaging framing the goal of the food system as health rather than profit finds widespread agreement across all voter groups. A national survey of 1,000 voters was conducted to understand these views.

1. David Mermin
April 2016
Lake Research Partners
Washington, DC | Berkeley, CA | New York, NY
LakeResearch.com
202.776.9066
Building a Food Movement

2. Focus group participants understand there is a
problem and want change.
• “Our food system is not meeting everyone’s needs.” –white married
mother, Des Moines, IA
• “I think that if they're going to subsidize junk food, why can't they flip
it and subsidize healthy food.” –Latina mother, Denver, CO
• “There needs to be a legislative push period…These are policies,
regulations that allow all this stuff to happen. And if the politicians
are more on board what the masses want…we'll put in place policies
that won't allow it.” –Latina mother, Denver, CO
• “The children deserve a future where healthy food is accessible to
everybody.” – White Suburban Mother, Raleigh
2

3. Voters give high marks for the availability of food
in America, but affordability, particularly for
healthy food lags behind.
3
What grade would you give this? (A-F Scale, A=Excellent, F=Failure)
13
13
14
15
16
28
46
32
25
31
33
34
34
31
32
29
34
29
34
25
16
9
18
11
9
9
8
4
4
12
8
5
5
3
2
10
10
Sustainability of agriculture
Affordability of healthy food in America
Affordability of food in America
The food system
Food safety
Availability of healthy food in America
Availability of food in America
A B C D F Don't know

4. Voters express the strongest concerns around the
impacts of food to children and health.
4
Does this raise very serious concerns, somewhat serious concerns, a little concern, or no concerns at all?
69
74
81
85
89
94
Today's children are expected to live shorter
lives than their parents
The overuse of antibiotics in healthy farm
animals leads to antibiotic resistant diseases,
making thousands of people sick each year
One third of children today will develop Type 2
diabetes

5. Voters also express strong concern around the
influence of money in politics
5
Does this raise very serious concerns, somewhat serious concerns, a little concern, or no concerns at all?
49
49
51
53
79
81
81
79
The federal government does not provide
enough support for sustainable farming
practices that can meet our food needs while
protecting the environment
The federal government recommends a diet of
50 percent fruits and vegetables, while less
than 1 percent of farm subsidies go toward
fruits and vegetables
Food and agriculture companies gave over 76
million dollars in campaign contributions to
members and candidates for Congress in the
2014 elections
In the last 3 months, big food and
agrochemical industries have spent 15 million
dollars lobbying members of Congress

6. Voters favor limiting subsidies to the largest farm
businesses and overwhelmingly favor incentives to
encourage sustainable farming practices that protect the
environment.
6
Do you favor or oppose limits on government
subsidies to the largest farm businesses?
34
23
14
62
12 8
50
36
75
17
Total Favor Total Oppose Don't know Total Favor Total Oppose Don't know
Do you favor or oppose government incentives to
encourage sustainable farming practices that
protect the environment?

7. Messaging focused on re-setting the goals of our
food system – from profit to health – finds
overwhelming agreement.
7
How convincing do you find this statement?
Our current food policy isn’t focused on
our health, it is focused on money. We
put profits before our health and
continue subsidies that help keep junk
food cheap and drive up chronic health
problems, like obesity, diabetes, and
even cancer. The goal of our food
system should be to produce healthy,
affordable food that is accessible for all
Americans, that protects our health, our
workers and our environment, provide
humane treatment of animals, and that
will protect our local farmers and keep
them farming their land. We need
policies that recognize that healthy
food is a necessity, not a privilege.
60
27
8
5
Very convincing
Somewhat convincing
A little convincing
Not at all convincing

8. All voters find this messaging convincing,
particularly Latinos, women, younger voters, and
Democrats.
8
How convincing do you find this statement?
50
60
69
73
63
57
60
78
87
92
95
87
81
86
Republican
Independent
Democrat
Latino
African American
White
All Voters
59
52
61
65
67
64
55
85
84
87
87
91
88
84
Over 65
50 to 64
40 to 49
30 to 39
Under 30
Women
Men

9. Methodology
9
• Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting conducted
focus groups in August of 2015 with the following audiences. Participants
were recruited to reflect a mix of partisanship and education levels.
• Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting designed
and administered a national survey of 1000 registered likely 2016 voters
conducted by telephone from September 16th through 24th, with 35 percent
reached by cell phone. The margin of error for survey is +/- 3.1% at the 95%
confidence interval.
City Date Composition
Des Moines, IA August 5
White married mothers
White unmarried women
Raleigh, NC August 11
White suburban mothers
African American mothers
Denver, CO August 13
White suburban fathers
Latina mothers

10. David Mermin
dmermin@lakeresearch.com
Washington, DC | Berkeley, CA | New York, NY
LakeResearch.com
202.776.9066