Roughly half of voters said they believe the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab in Wuhan, China, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.
Forty-seven percent of voters in the June 7-9 survey said the virus originated in a lab while 24 percent said it originated naturally, possibly from an animal such as a bat.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they are not sure.
Fifty-nine percent of Republican voters said COVID-19 was created in a lab while 14 percent said it originated naturally and 26 percent said they are not sure.
Forty-four percent of independents said the virus was created in a lab in Wuhan, China while 28 percent said it was created by natural circumstances and another 28 percent are not sure.
Thirty-six percent of Democrats said COVID-19 was created in a lab, 31 percent said naturally and 33 percent said unsure.
The survey comes as questions surrounding the origins of the COVID-19 virus mount with the two prevailing theories being it originated naturally through animals or it was accidentally leaked from a lab.
President Biden has ordered U.S. intelligence officials to investigate the origins of the virus.
The most recent Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 1,885 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2.26 percentage points.
—Gabriela Schulte
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