Americans' fear of a spread of the Ebola virus continues to rise, with 41 percent now worried that either they or someone in their family will be exposed — an uptick of 9 points since a survey just two weeks ago, says the Pew Research Center.
In the latest poll, taken between Oct. 15 and Oct. 20, 17 percent of respondents said they're very worried about exposure to Ebola.
In an
Oct. 6 Pew survey, 32 percent said they were worried about exposure to Ebola, while 11 percent responded they were very worried.
Nearly eight in 10 Americans, 77 percent, favor President Barack Obama's decision to send 3,000 U.S. military troops to combat Ebola in west Africa, and almost all Americans — 98 percent — have heard recent news about Ebola, with 49 percent tracking the news "very closely," the new survey found.
The new survey has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage point.
Since early October, worries about Ebola exposure have increased across most demographic and partisan groups.
In early October, 33 percent of Republicans were at least somewhat worried that they or a family member would be exposed to the virus, and the latest survey showed 49 percent are now worried.
Among Democrats, 36 percent currently have at least some concern about personal exposure to Ebola, compared with 30 percent in the early-October poll, Pew said.
Republicans also have less confidence in the federal government to prevent a major Ebola outbreak, the survey found, with 42 percent of GOP respondents saying they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence, compared with 67 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents.