New Poll: If This Trend Continues, Future Doesn't Look Good for Fauci
Fauci fatigue is creeping across America, according to a new poll that says Americans have flip-flopped on a medical expert who often has been criticized for doing just that.
A new Hill-HarrisX poll shows for the first time that a majority of those polled want to see no more of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who advised and then criticized former President Donald Trump before becoming a White House medical adviser under President Joe Biden.
The poll, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday among 937 registered voters, found that 52 percent think Fauci should resign, according to The Hill.
The 52 percent to 48 percent margin might not seem like a roaring public, but a Hill-Harris X poll in June found that 58 percent of those polled wanted Fauci to stay while only 42 percent said enough was enough.
This is why I call him “Flip Flop Fauci”…I KNEW he was a Leftist Operative. ? pic.twitter.com/2xusQaIHmT
— Wendell O. (@WmoutlawWendell) October 25, 2021
Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, still enjoys the support of Democrats, but not the way he once did. The poll found that 68 percent want him to stay and 32 percent want him to go. The June poll found only 20 percent of Democrats wanting Fauci to resign.
Seventy-five percent of Republicans want Fauci to quit, up 9 percentage points from June. Among Independents, 53 percent want him to stay and 47 percent to leave, a figure that also rose by 9 percentage points since June.
The most recent Hill-HarrisX poll has a margin of error of plus- or minus-3.2 percentage points.
I’m not alone in wanting Fauci to resign. Now, most Americans want him to resign too. #FauciLied https://t.co/9eifxF9kXG
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 29, 2021
Fauci’s ouster was called for last week by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has battled Fauci extensively.
“He should be fired,” Paul said during an “Axios on HBO” interview, according to The Hill.
Paul said Fauci should be dismissed over a “lack of judgment,” saying that Fauci lied about research the National Institutes of Health funded in Wuhan, China.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is part of the National Institutes of Health, which is led by Francis Collins.
Of Fauci, Paul said: “The thing is … he’s probably never going to admit that he lied; he’s going to continue to dissemble and try to work around the truth and massage the truth.”
The senator said a recent letter concerning research that involved creating powerful viruses proved Fauci and the National Institutes of Health were conducting gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, something Fauci has denied.
.@RandPaul says Biden should fire Fauci over U.S.-funded research in Wuhan “just for lack of judgment, if nothing else.”
Fauci fired back at Paul’s #AxiosOnHBO interview, telling @ThisWeekABC his criticism implies the research led to COVID-19, which is “molecularly impossible.” pic.twitter.com/d4DHkYpOD9
— Axios (@axios) October 24, 2021
“In the letter they acknowledge that yes, the viruses did gain in function; they became more dangerous. So they’ve created a virus that doesn’t exist in nature to become more dangerous — that is gain of function,” Paul said, according to The Hill.
“Now they try to justify it by saying, well, it was an unexpected result. I’m not sure I buy that. Think about it: You take an unknown virus, you combine it with another virus, and you get a super virus.
“You have no idea whether it gains functions or loses function — that’s what the experiment is — but I don’t know how anybody could argue that that’s not gain-of-function research.”
Fauci also has come under criticism for reports that dogs were tormented as part of experiments funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
As for the National Institutes of Health, Collins announced early this month that he will step down from his leadership position by the end of 2021.
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