PolitiFact: Bono, HIV/AIDS and public opinion: Correcting the record
PolitiFact correspondent Jon Greenberg examines a recent comment by Bono in an interview with the Irish Times, in which he said, “People think AIDS is done — it’s not done.” Greenberg writes, “That last sentence caught our eye. Does the wider public believe the deadly virus is ‘done’ or anything approximating it?” He uses polling data from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, as well as an interview with Jen Kates, vice president and director of global health & HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, to gauge public opinion about the epidemic, concluding, “There’s an obvious bit of rhetorical flourish in Bono’s comments, but independent polling does show that the public sees AIDS as less of a threat both at home and overseas than it once did…” (2/9).