A Chinese expert said that a poll co-conducted by The Hill and HarrisX, which found that 66 percent of registered US voters think it is inappropriate to use the terms “kung flu” or “China virus” when referring to COVID-19, shows that the majority of American people are clear-headed about Trump’s efforts to politicize the coronavirus and to scapegoat China in order to shift attention away from his incompetence in tackling the pandemic.
The Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted with the question: Do you think it is appropriate or inappropriate to refer to COVID-19 by names such as “China virus” or “kung flu?” The survey found that 66 percent of the respondents disapproved, according to a report by The Hill recently.
The July 3-4 survey found 83 percent of Democratic voters and 66 percent of independents say it is inappropriate to use those terms when talking about the novel coronavirus.
It noted that critics say Trump’s rhetoric is partly to blame for an uptick in reported crimes against the Asian American community, while administration officials say he is trying to draw attention to China’s role in the original outbreak.
“This reflects that the majority of the American people have a clear understanding of Trump’s failure in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and shirking of responsibility, such as not wearing a mask in public and making China a scapegoat,” Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“A number of US governors and experts, especially Anthony Fauci [director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases], have criticized the pandemic control and prevention measures taken by Trump’s administration,” said Li.
However, despite disapproval among the majority of Americans about the terms “kung flu” or “China virus,” there are still 34 percent who feel it is appropriate, based on the poll results.
And 56 percent of Republican voters said those terms, which President Trump has repeatedly used, are appropriate.
The survey found that 62 percent of voters who approve of Trump also believe the terms to be appropriate, while 38 percent of Trump backers said they are inappropriate, but among those who disapprove of the president, 89 percent say the terms are inappropriate compared to just 11 percent who say they are appropriate.
“This shows the deep division among different groups of voters in the American society,” Li noted, adding that Trump politicizing COVID-19 will only deepen the discrimination and even violence against Asians within the US.
A separate BBC analysis of interviews and US media reports found coverage of more than 100 alleged incidents since January that appeared to target Asians, and about 70 percent of those incidents had a clear link to the pandemic, according to a report by the BBC in May.
There were 133 incidents of anti-Asian discrimination recorded by the New York City Commission on Human Rights – compared to 11 in the same period in 2019 – said the report.
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 933 registered voters between July 3 and 4. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
An ambulance sits outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 23, 2020. Photo: AFP
