Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe China should pay reparations for the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Center for Security Policy/TIPP poll.
If investigations reveal the Chinese government released the SARS-CoV-19 coronavirus on purpose, that number grows from 63% to 78%, the survey found.
Even if it’s determined the release was accidental, 71% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats and independents in the CSP poll say China must pay reparations.
"This shows that an absolute majority of the Americans polled agree with the Center's position since the beginning that the Chinese Communist Party must pay for the international death and destruction that it caused," said J. Michael Waller, CSP's senior analyst for strategy.
In every demographic group except young people age 18-24, more were "not sure" about reparations than were those who opposed reparations, the CSP/TIPP poll found.
The CSP/TIPP poll results generally coincide with the numbers of a new Politico-Harvard poll, which shows that 52% of the public believes that the virus that causes COVID-19 came from a "laboratory leak in China."
The CSP/TIPP poll found that 49% believe that the virus "was developed in a lab."
A quarter of the respondents to the CSP/TIPP poll believe the Chinese communists created the virus "intentionally" and released it "intentionally."
In breaking down the country’s regions, the CSP/TIPP poll found that people in the more liberal Northeast (66%) are the toughest when it comes to making China pay reparations if a probe reveals an accidental release from a government lab.
"These are astonishing numbers," Waller wrote Tuesday. "They reveal a powerful narrowing of the gap since the pandemic began a year and a half ago. The American people are taking an increasingly hard line toward the Chinese regime."
Americans from the Midwest and South are most likely to suspect that the Chinese regime intentionally released the virus, according to the CSP/TIPP poll.
The poll found that 67% of Republicans, 42% of Democrats, and 52% of independents say the virus came from a Chinese lab. The Politico-Harvard poll results to a similar question found 59% of Republicans, 52% of Democrats, and 47% of independents say it came from a lab.
"This is important," Waller wrote. "Politico and Harvard are very liberal institutions, yet their poll results showed greater public agreement with what had been the Center for Security Policy's position all along."
CSP analysts have insisted from the beginning that the virus originated in a government-run virology lab in Wuhan, China.
Waller said reparations would have a two-fold effect. "They would compensate American taxpayers and citizens for their personal and financial losses, and they would start the process of taking down the [Chinese Communist Party]," he wrote.
The CSP poll was conducted by TechnoMetrica, between June 30 and July 2, and the nationwide study had a sample of 1,424 Americans, 18 or older. The study is accurate to within plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been surveyed.
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