It could affect the way Americans feel about big government and be a major influence in the coming midterm election.
The White House and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta may not think so, but a huge majority of Americans want heavier restrictions for west Africa travelers entering the United States during the current Ebola crisis, according to an ABC poll released Tuesday. The poll was taken on October 12th, a day before the general public was informed of the Dallas nurse catching the Ebola virus from a Liberian traveler Eric Duncan, who has now died. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
A second nurse at the same facility has now contracted the virus. Sixty-seven percent of those responding favor stricter travel guidelines for entry to the U.S. by those traveling from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Twenty-nine percent were opposed to any tighter restrictions than presently exist. The second figure startled pollsters since over 4,000 people have died from the hemorrhagic fever in the counties mentioned above.
The random survey found 33 percent feel the U.S. is doing all that can reasonably be done to try to prevent further cases of Ebola here. Sixty-four percent said more should be done. The numbers represent a dramatic rise from polls taken as late as five-days-ago. In that NBC poll taken October 7th, 58 percent of Americans wanted a ban on flights from countries hardest hit by the virus. Twenty percent were opposed to any flight bans.
Mass concern about the Ebola virus is centered mostly among lower-income Americans, and curiously, the least among higher-income, better educated Americans. Could that be because of health insurance and ready access to better medical care?
The two polls show a rapidly rising concern about government responsibility that could affect the midterm elections. The general consensus is the Ebola crisis would harm Democratic candidates far more than Republicans.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has awarded nearly 13,500 visas to people in three of the afflicted countries. It was reported that some 190,000 people from the 16 countries experiencing the Ebola outbreak visit the United States per year. Approximately 40,000 individuals from the targeted area acquire green cards, according to The Daily Caller.
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