I have a theory on why most Americans don't like fish and are closed minded about trying sushi. It's very hard to find fresh fish in most parts of America, if you do it's very expensive. Unless you live in a coastal city, chances are the closed thing to "seafood" you've ever eaten is breaded fish sticks and canned tuna fish- neither of which are very good and both have that "stale" fish taste. This is most of America's idea of fish, and it makes them closed minded to trying sushi. In other words, bad experiences with stale fish mean they don't know what fresh fish should taste like. Intead of taking the leap of faith and tasting some fresh sushi, most will say "no thanks, I don't like fish".
While I have never been to Japan, I understand that fresh fish is the daily staple and food hygiene is excellent. People have great experiences with fish and sushi in japan because its almost always fresh and available. It's just not like this in the states, our staple is chicken and beef. the USA is huge, the vast majority of the land does not border the ocean, transporting fresh fish inland takes time and when the fish arrives at the supermarket it's been sitting on a truck for a week.
I doubt its an issue with something being raw, more than enough people in the USA love rare steak and steak tartare. There's plenty of people who like soft-boiled eggs and fried eggs with raw yolks.
Luckily, my mom broke me into sushi at an early age and I've been an addict ever since.
