Popular political Twitter accounts frequently use the refrain “Twitter is not real life,” and data from a recent CBS News poll backs that up with just 29% of respondents saying they use Twitter to follow the campaign. But as one communications professor put it, Twitter plays an “outsized role” in […] Read more »
When noted journalists bashed political polls as nothing more than ‘a fragmentary snapshot’ of a moment in time
Legendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin, right, ready to do shoe-leather journalistic research in a bar, said preelection polls were “monstrous frauds.” Michael Brennan/Getty Images W. Joseph Campbell, American University School of Communication Poll-bashing – the aggressive, even extreme lambasting of pollsters and their work – used to be […] Read more »
Attention to Politics Shows Typical Election Year Surge
Less than two months from the presidential election, 42% of Americans say they follow news about national politics “very closely,” similar to the 39% to 43% who paid this close attention in each of the prior three presidential election years since 2008. Today’s level is a bit higher than in […] Read more »
Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s COVID-19 messaging
… When it comes to Trump’s statements, nearly six-in-ten U.S. adults (57%) say the president has been delivering the wrong message about the coronavirus outbreak to the country, and two-thirds say Trump and his administration only sometimes or hardly ever get the facts right about the outbreak. The survey also […] Read more »
Amid Pandemic and Protests, Civics Survey Finds Americans Know More of Their Rights
In a period defined by an impeachment inquiry, a pandemic, nationwide protests over racial injustice, and a contentious presidential campaign, Americans’ knowledge of their First Amendment rights and their ability to name all three branches of the federal government have markedly increased, according to the 2020 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics […] Read more »
Bias in Others’ News a Greater Concern Than Bias in Own News
Six in seven Americans think there is at least a fair amount of political bias in news coverage in general, and over half say the same of the news source they rely on most, according to a recent Gallup/Knight Foundation study. Yet 69% of Americans say they are more concerned […] Read more »