Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters believe it’s likely that the coronavirus was initially created in a Wuhan, China laboratory. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that just 17% consider it unlikely and 17% are not sure.
Those figures include 44% who say it’s Very Likely the deadly virus was created in a lab. Just 6% think it’s Not at All Likely.
By an 89% to 5% margin, Conservatives think it’s likely the coronavirus was created in a Wuhan, China lab. Liberals are more divided. Forty-six percent (46%) say creation in a lab is likely while 33% say it is not.
Eighty-six percent (86%) of Republicans believe the lab origin is likely. So do 57% of Independents and 51% of Democrats.
While voters remain very skeptical about the origins of the coronavirus, optimism is growing that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters now hold that view. Just 20% believe the worst is yet to come.
On a related topic, a recent Number of the Day showed that fewer than half of all voters are aware of the new CDC guidelines on mask-wearing. There is a partisan divide on this as well. Most Republican voters (56%) are aware of the new CDC guidelines, while most Democrats (57%) are not. Independent voters are evenly divided.
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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from May 27-29, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Most respondents were contacted online or via text while 170 were contacted using automated phone polling techniques. Online respondents were selected from a list of Registered Voters and through a process of Random Digital Engagement. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
