Now that we’ve reached the point where Facebook and Twitter aren’t automatically suspending the accounts of anyone who even suggests the possibility that the novel coronavirus might have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan rather than a bat cave, the mainstream media is also reluctantly talking about it. An obvious question is whether or not there had previously been an orchestrated effort to suppress the idea. So is that information sinking in among the public at large? According to the most recent poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen (not to be confused with Rasmussen Reports, which he is no longer associated with), the possibility is not only catching on, but it’s quickly becoming a majority opinion. It’s no longer a “fringe” idea to question whether there was a coverup. More people are now aware of the Wuhan Institute of Virology than anyone could have imagined only three years ago, and suspicions are growing that something wasn’t right at that facility. There is clearly also a rising tide of suspicions that this might not have been “an accident” at all.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters think it’s likely that U.S. government officials actively tried to cover-up the possibility that the coronavirus was created in a Wuhan, China, Laboratory. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 26% consider it unlikely and 17% are not sure.

That total includes 35% who say it’s Very Likely and 11% who think it’s Not at All Likely.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans consider a cover-up to be at least somewhat likely. Independent voters, by a 52% to 22% margin, tend to agree. Democrats are more evenly divided: 45% believe U.S. government officials actively engaged in a cover-up while 39% disagree.

Anyone with access to social media platforms must, at this point, have become aware that there was a great deal of shaming going on every time someone brought up the laboratory origin theory. But the word has spread well beyond the confines of Twitter and Facebook. When it comes to the question of whether or not people find it “likely” or “unlikely” that a coverup was taking place, a 57/26 split isn’t even close.

The partisan imbalance in those numbers was to be expected. Republicans were going to be more open to the idea (74%) but even a plurality of Democrats found the idea at least somewhat plausible. As usual, the independent voters were somewhere in between, but even a slim majority there agreed.

Some of the other questions send theories about the origin of the virus further into speculative territory. A solid majority (56/29) think it’s likely that the Chinese government “intentionally created the coronavirus as a biological weapon.” Whoa! I didn’t see that one coming. Personally, while I would never rule it out, I haven’t seen any confirmed information indicating that’s what happened. China has worked on biological weapons in the past, so there’s no reason to think they aren’t still doing it. But they might also have been simply “studying” the virus and allowed it to escape. And even if they were trying to weaponize it, we would need to know if they released it intentionally or, again, if they simply weren’t careful enough and it got out because of negligence or incompetence.

So now we have a majority of voters who believe that the media participated in a coverup of the lab origin theory. But why would they do that? In a previous survey, a plurality of them said it was because Donald Trump had endorsed the idea. And really… are any of you surprised? If the Bad Orange Man says something, most of the MSM immediately succumb to a knee-jerk reaction to try to prove it was “a lie.”