Fifty-eight percent of U.S. adults believe it is “definitely or probably true” the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.

The Economist/YouGov poll asked respondents, “Regardless of whether or not it was created or naturally mutated, do you believe it is true or false that a laboratory in China was the origin of the virus responsible for COVID-19?”

Nine percent more answered in the affirmative in 2021 than in 2020, 58 percent to 49 percent, respectively:

The poll also revealed that 77 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of independents, and 43 percent of Democrats believe the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.

These findings came as emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci show he scrambled February 1, 2020, to determine if the United States had any role in funding the coronavirus research “abroad.”

Hugh Auchincloss, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) principal deputy director replied to an email from Fauci, writing it is “essential” the two discuss a scientific paper about “experiments … performed before the gain of function pause.”

“The paper you sent me says the experiments were performed before the gain of function pause but have since been reviewed and approved by NIH,” Auchincloss answered Fauci. “Not sure what that means since Emily is sure that no Coronavirus work has gone through the P3 framework. She will try to determine if we have any distant ties to this work abroad.”

President Joe Biden has since canceled former Attorney General Bill Barr’s Department of Justice probe into the matter while asking his intelligence apparatus on May 26 to look into the situation.

Biden’s director of National Intelligence (DNI) said on May 27  that it is within the realm of possibility the Chinese flu originated from a Chinese lab.

Meanwhile, Fauci stated on May 25 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded the Wuhan lab, but he still denies gain of function research support in relation to the origin of the virus.

The poll was conducted from May 29-June 1 with 1,500 respondents and has a 2.8 percent margin of error.