News Habits & Media

73% of Americans express little or no confidence in tech companies to prevent the misuse of their platforms to influence the 2020 election.

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say major tech companies favor the views of liberals over conservatives. At the same time, partisans differ on whether social media companies should flag inaccurate information on their platforms.

A majority of voters said it is very or somewhat important to them to get messages from the presidential campaigns about important issues.

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.

Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.

Roughly half of Americans think social media companies should be regulated more than they are now, our survey found.

Democratic lawmakers post more content on Twitter, while the median Republican member now averages more audience engagement than the median Democrat across platforms.

32% of U.S. social media users say they have used these sites in the past month to encourage others to take action on issues.

Those ages 18 to 29 differ from older Americans in their news consumption habits and in their responses to major news events and coverage.

Some 61% of U.S. adults say they follow COVID-19 news at both the national and local level equally, and 23% say they pay more attention to local news.