Just 25% of Americans believe official coronavirus death tolls reported by federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. are accurate, according to a new Gallup poll published Tuesday.
The poll found that most Republicans and Democrats agree the numbers are not accurate, but for different reasons. Roughly half of Republican voters believe the official death toll is being overcounted, compared to 19% who believe the death toll is being undercounted.
Meanwhile, 72% of Democrats believe the number of recorded deaths are being undercounted, compared to just 5% who believe they are being overcounted. Overall, 48% of Americans believe the death toll is being undercounted, compared to 26% who believe it’s being overcounted, and 25% who believe the numbers are accurate. (RELATED: How The Media Failed America With Its Coronavirus Coverage)
White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Deborah Birx answers a question while meeting with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. President Donald Trump and in the Oval Office of the White House on April 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Pool/Getty Images)
The Gallup poll is largely in line with a poll published earlier this month by Axios, which found that roughly two-thirds of Americans doubt the death toll’s accuracy. That poll also found a similar partisan divide, with 40% of Republicans believing the death toll was being overcounted, compared to just 7% of Democrats who felt the same way. The U.S. government currently lists nearly 100,000 people as having died from the coronavirus. (RELATED: These Are The Most Illogical Coronavirus Restrictions Still In Place)
While most Americans believe more people have died of the virus than has been reported by the U.S. government, President Donald Trump and Dr. Deborah Birx have reportedly urged the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to revise down its total death count, taking issue with the agency’s decision to include “probable” cases of the virus in its official count.