Around three-in-ten Americans are very confident they could fact-check news about COVID-19
Americans’ confidence in checking COVID-19 information aligns closely with their confidence in checking the accuracy of news stories broadly.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Americans’ confidence in checking COVID-19 information aligns closely with their confidence in checking the accuracy of news stories broadly.
Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.
Those ages 18 to 29 differ from older Americans in their news consumption habits and in their responses to major news events and coverage.
Black adults were much more likely than whites and somewhat more likely than Hispanic adults to frequently discuss the pandemic with others.
The percentage who say journalists have exaggerated the risks of the outbreak has decreased notably in recent weeks.
The public’s sense about the pandemic’s impact on the financial well-being of most news organizations is far from clear.
U.S. adults in this group are less likely to get the facts right about COVID-19 and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims.
More than two-thirds of adults ages 65 or older said they were following news of the pandemic very closely.
With Election Day six months away, 52% of Americans are paying fairly close or very close attention to news about the presidential candidates.
A new analysis of open-ended responses to a survey of U.S. adults looks at the specific storylines or claims about COVID-19 that Americans said they were exposed to.
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