Who is at fault for COVID-19 crisis? Most Americans blame U.S. government, survey says

If the United States develops a vaccine, a majority say it should be kept for Americans first, even if that means fewer around the world are vaccinated right away.

“A portion of Americans seem to want to keep the vaccine for Americans first, even if they don’t want to get it themselves,” said Austin Wright, an assistant professor at Harris who is an affiliate of the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. “Republicans are especially likely to say that the vaccine should be kept for Americans first, even if they are less likely to say they will get vaccinated.”

The poll shows a stark partisan split on who is to blame for coronavirus situation in the U.S., as well as on the development and distribution of a vaccine. For example, more than half of Republicans (55%) fault the World Health Organization for the coronavirus situation in the U.S., compared with just over a quarter of independents (28% ) and Democrats (27%). And only 39% of Republicans want the World Health Organization to play a major role in vaccine development, compared with 59% of independents and 75% of Democrats.

The poll also found that 58% of Americans—including 79% of Republicans—say the United States should keep any vaccine for itself, even if that means fewer around the world get vaccinated. Only 39% of Americans say the vaccine should be made immediately available to other countries.

At the same time, Republicans are less likely than Democrats to say they will get a vaccine, regardless of whether it is developed in the United States (42% vs. 70%) or elsewhere (33% vs. 58%). 

“The poll shows how Americans’ attitudes about who should lead the development of a vaccine and whether people will get a vaccine have become highly partisan,” said Trevor Tompson, director of the AP-NORC Center. “The findings highlight the significant challenges surrounding the global development and distribution of a vaccine.”

The nationwide poll was conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from Sept. 11-14, 2020, using AmeriSpeak®, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,053 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.1 percentage points.

—A version of this story was first published by Harris Public Policy. For more results from the survey, visit the AP-NORC website.