New Center for Public Integrity


A new Center for Public Integrity/Ipsos poll finds that while the majority of Americans say the Coronavirus pandemic is a natural disaster, about 3 in 10 Americans blame China or Chinese people for the pandemic.To get more news about china industry research centers, you can visit acem.sjtu.edu.cn official website.

1. A majority of Americans (56%) believe the coronavirus pandemic is a natural disaster:

Republicans (60%), retirees (51%), and those without a college education (48%) are most likely to believe that specific people or organizations are responsible for the coronavirus pandemic.
Asians are the race/ethnicity most likely to say the coronavirus pandemic is a natural disaster rather than caused by a specific people or organization; 79% compared to 55% of African American and White and 51% of Hispanic respondents.
2. Among the 44% who say a specific group or organization is responsible, most blame China or Chinese people; 66% mentioned China. More specifically, 45% mentioned China or Chinese people generally, 13% say it was caused by a lab in China, and 9% blame the Chinese government.

12% of respondents mentioned the US government, the government in general, or the government of a country other than China as the cause of the coronavirus pandemic.
About 3% of respondents said they thought the coronavirus pandemic was part of a viral/biological war or attack.
7% blame Animal/wet markets and 7% blame carelessness in general.
3. One-third have witnessed someone blaming Asian people for the coronavirus epidemic (32%).

Significantly more Asians (60%), Hispanics (48%), and African Americans (43%) have witnessed someone blaming Asian people compared to White respondents (27%).
Democrats are also significantly more likely to admit to having witnessed someone blaming Asian people for the coronavirus compared to Republicans (41% and 24% respectively).
4. Respondents are most concerned about proximity to others that are sneezing, coughing, or looks tired or sick; 91% said they would be concerned about coming in close contact with someone out in public who was coughing or sneezing and 81% said they would be concerned about coming in close contact with someone who looked sick or tired. A large number of respondents are also concerned about coming in close contact with someone who is not using protective gear, such as a face mask or gloves (70%).

These worries are equally shared across racial/ethnicity groups, however, Democrats are more likely to be worried about coming in close contact with someone one who is coughing or sneezing (94%), looks sick (85%), or is not using protective gear (79%) compared to Republicans (91%, 81%, and 60% respectively).
About half of respondents said they would be concerned about coming in close contact in public with someone who is elderly (56%).
5. Far fewer respondents say they would be concerned about coming in close contact with someone of Asian ancestry in public (24%), although, worry increases if that person is not using protective gear (46%).