Nearly two-thirds of people want adverts for food high in fat, sugar and salt banned on TV before the watershed, research has found.
Nine out of 10 would also like to see better teaching about how to eat healthily in schools, the survey commissioned by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) found.
Its president, Dr Hilary Cass, called for the next government to take action as the UK has the worst child mortality rate in Western Europe and the highest rate of childhood obesity.
She said that focus on care for the elderly should not mean that issues surrounding children's health should fall by the wayside.
The survey found more than three-quarters of people said that child death rates (76%), reducing rates of childhood cancer (77%) and ensuring consistent health service provision for children and young people across the UK (77%) were the top three child health issues that should be priorities for government.
Most (94%) said children's healthcare should be an important priority for the NHS, the same as said care of the elderly, while more than two thirds (69%) supported policies to help address concerns around children's mental health.
More than half (58%) said they were in favour of reducing the national speed limit in built up areas to 20mph to attempt to reduce deaths from road traffic accidents.
Along with 64% of the 2,118 people asked saying they supported the ban on advertising unhealthy food before 9pm, more than three in five (62%) said increasing the amount of money spent on research to improve children and young people's health should be a high priority.
Dr Cass said: "We often see policies hitting the headlines that are targeted at the ageing population - increased funding for dementia research and additional dementia training for NHS workers are among the pledges that have been made in recent weeks.
"But whilst caring for our ageing population is important, it shouldn't mean that children's health falls to the wayside.
"This poll shows that the voting public care as much about child health as they do care for the elderly. "I call on the next government to listen to the facts and listen to the public - make child health a priority. Not only does it make strong moral sense, it makes economic and political sense too."
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