I'm assuming it takes different forms with different "powerful" plotters. I do not see that this poll differentiates between those prefer giant, irrational conspiracies to make "sense" of the unknown and observers who know something's wrong in DC. Groups as different as they could be.
One is a huge problem, of course. What I don't like about this, though, is that it doesn't discuss rational suspicions, even to explain they're not being measured. So how should rational people answer? No and seemingly deny what they suspect? Yes and be thrown in with millions of nutcases?
Reality is, it is known beyond any doubt, proven by the record, that the Republican leaderships in both the executive and congressional branches have consistently declined and directly refused to do what they needed to, first to contain COVID when it came to our shores and second to mitigate pandemic spread in the U.S. VERY strange. What's not known is why.
I don't watch MSNBC and CNN all the time, but I've head both Rachel and Brian Williams very briefly allude to this and the need for investigations later,...after. Neither are what we think of when we think of "conspiracists." Because they're not. How would they answer this poll?
Back in January, we were believed to be the most advanced nation in pandemic control on the planet and until then took the lead in doing just that, all systems previously developed and held in readiness. SARS1 hit 24 countries before WE leading planetary effort got control; we had 8 cases of this killer appear in the U.S., all immediately contained with the proper techniques. SARS1 subsequently disappeared, believed snuffed out.
When SARS2 was coming, the most (only!) proactive action was by a few Republican senators who sold off investments expected to be severely impacted. One of them (Senator Richard Burr) was on the senate intelligence committee and had been a leader in creating our national security response to pandemic attack.
So how to answer? "No" if emphasis were on planned, and remembering the banal forms evil usually takes? SARS-Cov-2 is a new virus, so kinda hard to plan for. It may have been "just" opportunistic decisions, or maybe a series of little ones over time, maybe initially taking the form of declining/postponing decisions, progressing until it was "too late"?
But whatever happened, at that time it was most believed COVID left children and young workers alone and took retired and chronically ill people. And a time when they knew they were going to have real difficulty holding power the following November (specifically McConnell's precious senate majority), much less gain more.
We all know, though, that their denial that COVID was a real danger continued right up to the time that death counts made denial no longer possible and the pandemic couldn't be stopped, only mitigated. And then they continued to refuse to take action to mitigate spread and limit deaths, still believed to mostly be of retirement-age people.
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