Almost HALF of Trump Fans Think Hydroxychloroquine is ‘Cure’ for Coronavirus. It is Not.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Nearly half of President Donald Trump’s supporters believe that the unproven — and potentially harmful — drug hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for COVID-19, according to a new poll.

Support for Trump continues to have an outsize effect on attitudes involving the coronavirus. In a new Yahoo! News/YouGov survey, respondents were asked “Do you think the drug hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19?”

The vast majority — 83 percent — either correctly said it is not (52%) or said they didn’t know (31%), and only 17 percent mistakenly said it is a cure. The drug has not even been proven an effective treatment for the virus, and some studies have shown it to be potentially harmful. There is currently no cure for the coronavirus illness.

But among Trump supporters, a whopping 44 percent say Hydroxychloroquine is a cure for coronavirus, and less than a quarter of them correctly said that it is not.

Those numbers could grow, as the poll was taken between July 28 and July 30, while Trump was promoting the drug as a cure using a video that was subsequently deleted across social media platforms, and in the process injecting the words “Demon semen” into the political media’s lexicon.

Trump voters were much less likely (41%) than Biden voters (71%) to say they “always” wear a mask in public, and while 73 percent of all respondents said masking in public should be mandatory, a solid 52 percent majority of Trump supporters said it should not.

Trump voters were also around half as likely to say they would get vaccinated against the coronavirus (35%) as Biden voters (62%) once a vaccine becomes available, although one theme was consistent: 69 percent of all respondents said they were concerned with the safety of a “fast-tracked” vaccine, a result that varied little by political affiliation.