Portions of a new POLITICO-Harvard poll released on Friday revealed that a majority of Democrats are now on board with believing that the Wuhan coronavirus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Republicans and Independents have consistently believed this theory, as I reported when it comes to Morning Consult and Fox News polls conducted and released last month.
When it comes to how much views have changed since March 2020 and the lack of a partisan divide, the results are being called "unique" by the poll's designer.
According to a write-up for POLITICO from Alice Miranda Ollstein:
Most Americans now believe that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China, according to a new POLITICO-Harvard poll that found a dramatic shift in public perception of Covid-19’s origins over the last year.
U.S. adults were almost twice as likely to say the virus was the result of a lab leak in China than human contact with an infected animal, which many scientists believe is the most likely scenario. The poll's findings show what was once a fringe belief held mainly among some on the political right has become accepted by most Republicans, as well as most Democrats, amid heightened scrutiny of the lab leak theory.
The absence of a large partisan gap on the issue is particularly striking, said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who designed the poll.
“Usually, our polls find a big split between Republicans and Democrats, so this is unique,” he said. “More conservative media have been carrying the ‘lab leak’ issue, and it’s been a Trump talking point from the beginning, so we expected people who lean Democratic would say either ‘It’s not true’ or ‘I don’t know.’ But the belief is bipartisan.”
Blendon said Democrats likely became more receptive to the idea after President Joe Biden’s recent order that intelligence agencies investigate the virus’ origin and comments from Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical officer, that it's worth digging into. Fauci and other scientists have cautioned the answer may never be known definitively.
“That the president thought there was enough evidence to ask intelligence agencies to put together a report sends a signal to Democrats that there might be something there,” Blendon said.
The numbers come out to 52 percent total who "believe that the Covid-19 virus came from... A laboratory leak in China." This includes 59 percent of Republicans and 52 percent of Democrats, as well as a plurality of Independents, at 47 percent.
The poll also looks into "The Public’s Views on the Importance of the U.S. Government Investigating the Origins of the Covid-19 Virus."
A majority, at 62 percent, say it's "extremely important" or "very important" to investigate. A plurality of Republicans and Independents, at 44 and 33 percent, respectively, say it's "extremely important." In contrast, 30 percent of Democrats chose such an answer, while a plurality, at 34 percent, said it's "very important."
Ollstein's write-up also references a piece of hers in which she candidly scrutinized Democratic lawmakers' actions, or lack thereof, on investigating the Wuhan coronavirus. That piece was the subject of one of my VIP articles, the same one which mentions those above polls.
The full poll is being released next week, according to Olltein's write-up. A part of the poll which has been released so far echoed the comments mentioned above, noting "there was no significant partisan difference" and that such a "finding is very important in a politically polarized America."
The poll, which was conducted June 22-27, surveyed 1,009 adults.