Most likely voters still believe Congress should investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci, a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey released Monday found.
The survey asked respondents, “Should Dr. Anthony Fauci be investigated by Congress for his inconsistent testimony about his research leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then his actions in managing the pandemic?”
Over half, 52.2 percent, said yes, Congress should investigate Fauci’s inconsistent testimony as well as his actions in managing the pandemic, while 44.5 percent said no. Another 3.2 percent remain unsure.
Opinions are sharply divided on party lines, as 70 percent of Democrats do not believe lawmakers should investigate Fauci, followed by 25.5 percent of Democrats who believe they should.
Most Republicans, 80.2 percent, and independents, 56 percent, believe Congress should investigate Fauci.
The survey was taken January 9-12, 2023, among 1,079 likely general election voters and has a +/- 2.9 percent margin of error.
Republicans have long promised to investigate Fauci prior to taking over the U.S. House of Representatives. In August 2022, months prior to the midterm election, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) vowed that a GOP-led House would hold him accountable.
“Dr. Fauci lost the trust of the American people when his guidance unnecessarily kept schools closed and businesses shut while obscuring questions about his knowledge on the origins of COVID,” he said at the time.
“A @HouseGOP majority will hold him accountable,” he added:
McCarthy’s vow followed well over a year of contention as Fauci faced mounting questions over his initial denial that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is among Fauci’s top critics, routinely grilling him when presented with the opportunity to do so.
“We’re aware that you deleted gain-of-function to the NIH website,” Paul told Fauci during a contentious hearing in November 2021.
“You’re simply saying it doesn’t exist because you changed the definition on the NIH website. This is terrible and you’re completely trying to escape the idea that we should do something about trying to prevent a pandemic from leaking from a lab,” Paul said during the back and forth.
“And what you’ve done is change the definition on your website to try to cover your ass, basically. That’s what you’ve done, you’ve changed the website to change the definition that doesn’t include the risky research that’s going on,” he added.
In December, McCarthy promised that a Republican majority would begin holding the Biden administration accountable, and that includes fleshing out the “origins of COVID.”
The Speaker announced members of the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic this week, which Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) will chair.
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