https://www.sciencealert.com/h…-was-made-in-a-lab-rumour
anti-Chinese sentiment makes the "escaped from Chinese lab" hypothesis popular, and it is difficult to disprove. But it does not seem likely.
Whereas the "genetically engineered in a Chinese lab" hypothesis is very highly unlikely - and has got more so as more bat viruses have been investigated.
I think the problem has more to do with how they say it. If you ask people if they think COVID was "made in a lab", most people, including myself, would think it is very possible. They were probably thinking like me when I first heard it; that scientists were studying the virus in a lab, and it escaped out the window on it's little bat wings. Ask them if they think it was "engineered in a lab", then it sounds more complex, and less do-able.
The article even mixes it up by saying "made in lab" in the headline", and then "engineered in a lab" later on.
Would be interesting if they ran two polls: one asking "Do you think it was made in a lab", and the other: "do you think it was engineered in a lab". My guess is that many more would say yes to the first.