Only 20 percent of Americans have a "great deal of confidence" that the federal government can prevent a major outbreak of Ebola in the U.S., according to a new poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center.
The national survey conducted Oct. 2-5 found that of the 1,007 adults polled, 38 percent said they have a "fair amount" of confidence, while 24 percent said they have "not too much confidence" in the government's ability to prevent a major outbreak of the virus. Seventeen percent reported "no confidence at all."
So far, Ebola is only active in three people inside the U.S., all of whom are being closely monitored and undergoing treatment.
When Pew asked "How worried are you that you or someone in your family will be exposed to the Ebola virus?" just 11 percent replied that they are "very worried," while another 21 percent said they are "somewhat worried."
"Two-thirds say they are either not too (37%) or not at all worried (30%) about contracting Ebola," said Pew, pointing out that public concern over Ebola is lower than for other recent health threats like swine or bird flu.
Of those polled, Republicans are by far the most skeptical about the government's ability to deal with Ebola, with 51 percent reporting "little or no confidence." Forty eight percent have a "great deal or fair amount of confidence."
Democrats had the most confidence in the government, at 69 percent, compared to 28 percent having "not much or no confidence." Independents came in at 56 percent confident vs. 42 percent not.
This can be compared to November 2005 when concerns of bird flu outbreak were on Americans' minds. Pew then found that Republicans were far more confident in the government's ability than Democrats were, with 74 percent of Republicans and only 35 percent of Democrats expressing confidence in the Bush administration's ability to deal with the bird flu outbreak.
