American News Pathways

How the public navigates news in 2020

Pew Research Center’s ongoing initiative focusing on how Americans’ news habits and attitudes relate to what they hear, perceive and know about the 2020 U.S. presidential election and COVID-19. MORE >

Political Divides, Conspiracy Theories and Divergent News Sources Heading Into 2020 Election

Republicans are about four times as likely as Democrats to say voter fraud has been a major issue with mail-in ballots.

Americans have heard more about clashes between police and protesters than other recent news stories

The public is more likely to have heard “a lot” about ongoing confrontations between police and protesters than several other stories.

Writing about the election?

Explore the data

Use an interactive tool to create tables exploring our survey questions about how Americans’ news habits and attitudes relate to what they hear, perceive and know about the 2020 U.S. presidential election and COVID-19.

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Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s COVID-19 messaging, though large partisan gaps persist

Americans are following the president's statements on the COVID-19 pandemic less closely than a few months ago.

A growing share of voters say it’s important to them to hear from the Trump and Biden campaigns

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

Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable

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.

A look at the Americans who believe there is some truth to the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned

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

Younger adults differ from older ones in perceptions of news about COVID-19, George Floyd protests

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

Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak

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.

Three Months In, Many Americans See Exaggeration, Conspiracy Theories and Partisanship in COVID-19 News

After three months of news and information, 64% of U.S. adults say the CDC mostly gets the facts about the outbreak right; 30% say the same about President Trump and his administration.

Majorities of Americans Say News Coverage of George Floyd Protests Has Been Good, Trump’s Public Message Wrong

Among black Americans, 72% say coverage has been good or excellent and 85% say Trump’s message has been completely or mostly wrong.

Black U.S. adults follow many COVID-19 news topics more closely, discuss the outbreak more frequently

Black adults were much more likely than whites and somewhat more likely than Hispanic adults to frequently discuss the pandemic with others.

Americans are following news about presidential candidates much less closely than COVID-19 news

With Election Day six months away, 52% of Americans are paying fairly close or very close attention to news about the presidential candidates.

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