Support For Trump's Touted COVID-19 Drug Down As Studies Express Safety Concerns - Poll

Republican voters' support for hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug touted by US President Donald Trump as a possible COVID-19 treatment, has fallen to 41 percent from 52 percent a month ago, a Morning Consult poll showed on Wednesday, on the heels of a study expressing safety concerns over the use of the drug

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2020) Republican voters' support for hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug touted by US President Donald Trump as a possible COVID-19 treatment, has fallen to 41 percent from 52 percent a month ago, a Morning Consult poll showed on Wednesday, on the heels of a study expressing safety concerns over the use of the drug.

Trump first mentioned hydroxychloroquine as a potential game-changer in the fight against the pandemic in mid-March. On May 18, the US leader said that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine daily for about a week as a preventive measure, causing a backlash from the Democratic opposition for taking a drug that has not been proven to be effective. On Monday, the World Health Organization paused its coronavirus treatment trial of the hydroxychloroquine after one of the studies suggested that the drug did not help and might even be linked to increased death risks among coronavirus patients.

As support for this drug tumbled among Republicans, the Democratic voters, too, became more skeptical toward it, with 65 percent of them opposing its use, up from 56 percent a month ago.

On the whole, the share of US voters who are against the use of this drug has risen from 37 percent to 45 percent. Another 24 percent support it, and 31 percent have no opinion on the matter.

The Morning Consult/Politico surveys were conducted on April 24-26 and May 22-26 among some 1,990 voters, with a margin of error not exceeding 2 percent.