Essential Research: coronavirus restrictions and conspiracy theories

A poll suggests a significant proportion of the population believes coronavirus was engineered in a Chinese laboratory, but other conspiracy theories remain consigned to the fringe.

Courtesy of The Guardian, some headline results of another weekly Essential Research poll on coronavirus, the full report of which should be published later today. This includes regular questions on federal and state governments’ handling with the crisis, of which we are only told that respondents remain highly positive, and on easing restrictions, for which we are told only 25% now consider it too soon, which is down two on last time and has been consistently declining over five surveys.

Beyond that, the survey gauged response to a number of what might be described as conspiracy theories concerning the virus. By far the most popular was the notion that the virus “was engineered and released from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan”, which has received a certain amount of encouragement from the Daily Telegraph but is starkly at odds with the scientific consensus. Agreement and disagreement with this proposition was tied on 39%.

Thirteen per cent subscribed to a theory that Bill Gates was involved in the creation and spread of the virus, with 71% disagreeing; 13% agreed the virus was not dangerous and was being used to force people to get vaccines, with 79% disagreeing; 12% thought the 5G network was being used to spread the virus, with 75% disagreeing; and 20% agreed the number of deaths was being exaggerated, with “more than 70%” disagreeing. The poll also found 77% agreed that the outbreak in China was worse than the official statistics showed.

The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1073.

UPDATE: Full report here.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

3,318 comments on “Essential Research: coronavirus restrictions and conspiracy theories”

Comments Page 57 of 67
1 56 57 58 67
  1. Steve777 @ #2787 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 9:32 pm

    Have to say I don’t understand the obsessional hatred of the Greens exhibited by some here.

    It has very little to do with the actual Green party. What you are seeing is the absolute hatred and contempt of the Labor Left by the Labor Right. They use the term “Green”, but what they really mean is the Left wing of their own party. That is their real enemy.

  2. “the Greens rhetoric has recently pivoted to saying the the ALP is worse than the Coalition.”

    What a load of bollocks.

  3. C@tmomma
    says:
    Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 8:27 am
    Yes, Anthony Albanese is not the messiah for Labor. He will never be Prime Minister. Maybe use him as a burner leader. That’s all I’d ever consider.

  4. Zaphod Beeblebrox

    How goes the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses for you ? I dare say they are handy items to wear at the Bludger Lounge.

  5. And Adam Bandt promising the Moon and Sixpence, as he did today, as he has no prospect of ever being in a position to implement his grandiloquent ideas, will not make The Greens more popular either.

    To which I’d also add, that if The Greens in Australia have an eye to a power-sharing arrangement with the Coalition such as in Austria, could they please stop and think that the Coalition are also good at promising the Moon and Sixpence to gull the gormless, and then, as soon as it’s convenient, pulling the rug out from under the rubes. As I fully expect the Ultra Nationalist RW party the Austrian Greens are in partnership with will do, when and if they win an outright majority at their next federal election. All that has been legislated wrt Climate Change will be gone in the blink of an eye. Just like Tony Abbott did here. And anyone who doesn’t believe that are just the sort of marks those guys look for. There, and here.

  6. Zaphod Beeblebrox

    A very warm welcome to PollBludger. At this delicate time in our polity, we welcome any insights you have as to how to proceed given your extensive galactic experience.

    Also, have the brains in you two heads got to connecting?

  7. Pegasus says:
    Friday, May 22, 2020 at 9:48 pm
    CI

    If the Greens party ceased to exist tomorrow, you and your fellow travellers would undoubtedly find another scapegoat to blame for Labor’s failings and failures.

    You should take the credit that is your due and yours alone.

  8. Player One says:
    Friday, May 22, 2020 at 9:51 pm
    Steve777 @ #2787 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 9:32 pm

    Have to say I don’t understand the obsessional hatred of the Greens exhibited by some here.
    It has very little to do with the actual Green party. What you are seeing is the absolute hatred and contempt of the Labor Left by the Labor Right. They use the term “Green”, but what they really mean is the Left wing of their own party. That is their real enemy.

    This is entirely wrong. I’m from the Left. I have fraternal feelings for the Right. The Greens are a different proposition altogether. They hate us. They have worked for years to obstruct and defeat Labor. They are in practice Libs in all but name.

  9. Pegasus

    “the Greens rhetoric has recently pivoted to saying the the ALP is worse than the Coalition.”

    What a load of bollocks.

    It may be bollocks, but my test as to whether it is bollocks or not will be met by Greens preferencing behaviour over the next few elections. Measuring things is what I do for a living, and so I will apply the follow test to each election, and with William’s kind permission, post my results here.

    My test:

    Will the Greens preference against Labor?

    1) Yes, always, because Labor are Social Fascists,
    2) Only in seats where peferencing the Coalition will unseat a Labor member, or
    3) No, they will continue to believe, that holding their noses, Labor is better than the Coalition.

    I will keep a close watch and do the statistics before I decide that the Greens really do see the Coalition as the better partners to further their aims.

  10. Continually Insufferable
    says:
    This is entirely wrong. I’m from the Left. I have fraternal feelings for the Right.
    _____________________________________
    When has there ever been hatred and infighting between the ALP Left and Right?
    Frankly it’s unheard of and as Briefly explains, there’s nothing but fraternal love. Any books, be they academic histories or memoires that say there has been hatred is just Libkin propaganda.

  11. D&M

    “Greens preferencing behaviour over the next few elections.”

    And will you also be keeping a close watch on Labor’s preferencing behaviour over the next few elections?

  12. Back in the days of old, when it came to Left or Right fights, nothing at varsity was so vicious as the internecine fights among the uber left.

  13. “ How goes the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses for you”

    I gave both of my pairs to the bludger who is named Guytaur after he connected the brains in both my heads. Far out.

    Now I get by sipping Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters with my homie Clem Attlee whilst listening to vogon poetry recitals by briefly, Boerwar and Bushfire Bill.

  14. poroti
    says:
    Friday, May 22, 2020 at 10:20 pm
    nath
    Have you come up with any ideas as to how to say the ALP could remove the NSW Labor carbuncle ?
    _____________________
    Well I think Lars is the man to speak to about this. I have enough trouble keeping up with the Victorian crooks!

  15. In ’51 the then Princess Elizabeth visited the USA. She addressed the assembled as “My husband and me”, thereafter referring to him as “My husband and I”. I know the former is grammatically correct but the latter sounds more sound.

  16. Continually Insufferable @ #2810 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 10:04 pm

    This is entirely wrong. I’m from the Left. I have fraternal feelings for the Right. The Greens are a different proposition altogether. They hate us. They have worked for years to obstruct and defeat Labor. They are in practice Libs in all but name.

    Nice try, Briefly.

  17. The Greens have worked assiduously – really, tirelessly – to create enemies in Labor. They have succeeded beyond their wildest. From this there is to be no respite. Nothing will change now. There will be no early release. No parole. We are stuck with it.

  18. CI

    The Greens have worked assiduously – really, tirelessly – to create enemies in Labor.

    I don’t give a fluck about the Greens .When it comes to my disillusionment with Labor the Labor party has done it all by them selves.

  19. Poroti…I know you despise Labor too. Not a lot to be said really. Time is running out for all of us. The use-by dates… expiring. We’re just all fucked up together. We’ve failed.

  20. The song is wrong. It’s not the end of the world as we know it. It’s simply more of the same. We have failed. Just about totally failed. Camus was right.

  21. Player One says:
    Friday, May 22, 2020 at 10:49 pm
    CI @ #2822 Friday, May 22nd, 2020 – 10:31 pm

    P1….it’s true. Every word.
    This is the bit that gives you away …

    I have fraternal feelings for the Right.

    You’re wrong. Just wrong. I’m not trying to be calculating here. I’m from the Left. I have close lifelong friends from the Right. These labels mean nothing to me. I do not struggle against my comrades. We are not bitterly opposed to each other. My political allies are from the left. This is a practical matter. It’s nothing more or less.

  22. CI

    But but but all our pollies have told us it is so 😆 But srsly, of course nothing has changed. As always the rich and the powerful will screw the peasants just as they always have. Only the duty roster of who the ‘oligarchs’ are may change.

  23. Poroti….the agents of change have seldom been weaker. We’ve done this to ourselves. We deserve to fail. And we will.

  24. Update to an earlier post in which I gave round figures.

    In the past week NSW testing went from 4.38 to 4.96 percent of the population. An increase of 0.58%
    In the past week VIC testing went from 4.89 to 5.93 percent of the population. An inrease of 1.04%

    Victoria leads both in the rate of testing per head of population and change in rate of testing per head of population. Even in absolute figures, Victoria is about to catch up with NSW. (393k vs 406k).

    Some of this has to do with policy and with effectiveness of promotion. It can’t all be due to Victorians getting the sniffles more often.

    Now, testing 1% of your population in a week is pretty impressive. Imagine if you bumped that up a mere order of magnitude. That would mean every person would have a one in ten chance of being tested each week. That’s one in ten hidden carriers found each week. The remaining hidden carriers have a high probability of being contacts of those that are discovered. So what you’re doing is interrupting cluster formation early, before clusters can grow. There is a good chance that testing at this scale, plus contact tracing (and isolation) would eliminate the virus.

  25. Former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he regretted saying Friday that any black voter who is undecided between himself and President Trump “ain’t black.”

    “I should not have been so cavalier,” Biden said on a call with US Black Chambers, an organization focused on promoting black-owned businesses.

    “I’ve never ever ever taken the African American community for granted,” Biden said, adding “there are African Americans who think Trump is worth voting for” and “I’m prepared to put my record against his, that was the bottom line.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-says-black-voters-who-arent-already-supporting-him-aint-black/2020/05/22/4466d978-9c39-11ea-ad09-8da7ec214672_story.html

    You can understand where he’s coming from, esp after Trump’s racism, incendiary remarks about black communities, the public statements from his appalling surrogates, and the track record of his government.

  26. Trump trying to kill his voting base when he’s trying to save them so that they will vote for him again:

    He says he wants churches opened “right now” in time for the weekend and will override governors who keep them shut.

    Churches have been shut by authorities around the world as part of bans on mass gatherings amid fears services would be an ideal breeding ground for the highly infectious coronavirus.

    What a rolled gold fool.

  27. Cud,

    We are you so obsessed with elimination of the virus.

    At some point we are going to open our international borders. That is a given as we need the overseas tourist $$$. In the year 2018/2019 it amounted to $44.6b.

    Nowhere else in the world will they have eliminated the virus.

  28. ‘fess,
    That interview of Joe Biden that Stephen Colbert did, which sprocket put up last night at 8.47pm is well worth watching.

  29. Here is an article that puts to bed any wild and crazy thoughts people may have had that taking Hydroxychloroquine would be of benefit to you if you contract COVID-19:

    A study of 96,000 hospitalised coronavirus patients on six continents found that those who received an anti-malarial drug promoted by US President Donald Trump as a “game changer” had a significantly higher risk of death compared with those who did not.

    People treated with hydroxychloroquine, or the closely related drug chloroquine, were also more likely to develop a type of irregular heart rhythm, or arrhythmia, that can lead to sudden cardiac death, it concluded.

    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/malaria-drug-touted-by-trump-linked-to-increased-risk-of-death-study-20200522-p54vp3.html

  30. Kirky,

    I ,for one , really appreciate Cud’s and others’ posts on the virus, surely the biggest ongoing threat in our lifetime.

  31. Quasar and Kirky

    Yes, I’ve appreciated the flow of virus information on PB, from several angles, which has enabled me to feel more comfortable in dealing with it. Simple reports in the media are not enough.

  32. Anyone else noticed that the SMH has gone seriously stupid this morning in it’s hysterical backing of all things LNP?

    Gladys has succeeded, spectacularly in the first three challenges she has faced (drought, fire, handling the pandemic) and is heading in the same direction (with forceful “iron” leadership) in reopening the state, Morrison has mapped a new way forward in multilateral diplomacy with his lapdog-yapping at China over the WHO proposed enquiry (which is no where near what the lapdog was demanding), and the world’s greatest screw up in basic accounting by Freydenberg the dunce is meh, just look at the unicorn and shut up.

    There’s the smell of panic in the air. Nobody can believe this shit.

Comments Page 57 of 67
1 56 57 58 67

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *