Republicans and Democrats have very different views on who to blame for America's coronavirus death toll


Americans seem to agree that someone deserves the blame for the country's coronavirus death toll, they just can't settle on whom. A poll from Morning Consult released last week found the targets differed significantly along party lines.
Republicans mostly looked outwards — 80 percent consider the Chinese government at least somewhat responsible, and 68 percent felt the same about both immigrants who traveled to the U.S. after the outbreak began and Americans who traveled internationally. Only 44 percent, meanwhile, pointed the finger at the federal government, and even fewer found the White House responsible.
That's in stark contrast to Democrats, 79 and 81 percent of whom think the federal government and the Trump administration, respectively, shoulder some of the blame. But Democrats most frequently responded that Americans who didn't practice social distancing are the cause behind the virus' spread and resulting fatalities.
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There are some bipartisan results in the poll, however. Voters from both parties mostly feel the scientific community and medical professionals are not responsible for country's COVID-19 deaths.
Full methodology for the survey was not made available. Morning Consult coronavirus polling uses data from a national sample of 2,200 adults across a representative group of demographics. Results from Morning Consult's twice-weekly survey has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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