Most Republicans *still* don’t think coronavirus is more deadly than the flu – CNN

Just 40% of self-identified GOPers in newly released Gallup data said that the coronavirus' mortality rate was higher than that of seasonal flu, which kills roughly 1 out of every 1,000 people who get it. That number is largely unchanged from a mid-March Gallup survey that showed 42% of Republicans believing that coronavirus is deadlier than the flu.

Those numbers stand in stark contrast to the 9 in 10 Democrats who told Gallup that coronavirus is killing more Americans than the flu and the two-thirds of independents who said the same.

It's also in stark contrast to the known facts regarding coronavirus' mortality rate.

"The crude case fatality rates, covering people who have a Covid-19 diagnosis, have been about 6 percent globally as well as in the United States. But when all the serological data is compiled and analyzed, the fatality rate among people who have been infected could be less than 1 percent."

So, why do so many Republicans simply not buy it?

"Beyond partisan affiliation and political ideology, news diet is a powerful predictor of how Americans view the lethality of the coronavirus. For example, the likelihood that a hypothetical politically moderate independent with a conservative news diet would incorrectly answer this question increased four percentage points between mid-March to mid-April, compared with decreases of seven points for the same individual with a mixed news diet and 19 points with a liberal news diet."

What the Gallup numbers affirm is that facts are under assault in this country. And in a situation like this global pandemic has created, ignorance of facts (or ignoring them) can get people killed.

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Most Republicans *still* don't think coronavirus is more deadly than the flu - CNN