In the wake of reports that many beef products in Europe have been tainted with horsemeat, a majority of Americans would support testing of meat products in this country to ensure that the same thing doesn't happen here, according to a new poll.
According to the new HuffPost/YouGov survey, 62 percent of Americans say that the U.S. should institute new regulations on meat products, including tests to determine if meat is tainted with meat from other species. Support for new regulations in light of the scandal crossed party lines, with a majority of Republicans and independents, along with more than three-quarters of Democrats, saying that they would support new regulations.
Respondents to the survey were asked whether they had heard about the horsemeat scandal in a previous question, so all who answered the regulation question had heard that beef products in Europe had been found to contain horsemeat.
Still, most respondents are at least somewhat confident that American beef remains untainted. Eighteen percent of respondents said they were very confident that ground beef products in the U.S. are not tainted by horsemeat, and another 37 percent say they are somewhat confident. A smaller percentage of respondents said that they were not very confident (20 percent) or not at all confident (12 percent) that products sold in America don't contain horsemeat.
Few Americans in the new poll said that they had heard much about the European horsemeat scandal. Only 9 percent said they had heard a lot, 39 percent said they had heard a little, and 45 percent said they had heard nothing at all about the scandal.
Most respondents to the survey were not open to the idea of eating horsemeat voluntarily. Fifty-six percent said they would never eat horsemeat, while 19 percent said they would be willing to try it. Six percent said that they had already tried it, and another 18 percent said they weren't sure if they would try it. (No word on how many have recently visited a Burger King in the U.K. )
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Feb. 8-9 among 1,000 U.S. adults. The poll used a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling.