‘An American Tradition’: Lessons from a year covering conspiracy theories

… I have spent this year thinking and writing about the draw to conspiracy theories, the perverse comfort they provide and the damage they can cause. Today in the United States, we are living in an era of segregated belief, of divergent realities, at a time when social media has […] Read more »

‘Slow-motion insurrection’: How GOP seizes election power

In the weeks leading up to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a handful of Americans — well-known politicians, obscure local bureaucrats — stood up to block then-President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempt to overturn a free and fair vote of the American people. In the year […] Read more »

This is the worst economy we never had

… The economy is going gangbusters — historically so. Yet Americans, particularly Republicans, express a gloom not matched by economic reality — or by their own spending behaviors. Polls and consumer-confidence indices show an economic pessimism as grim as when millions lost jobs in the pandemic shutdown. This is, in […] Read more »

Millions Embrace Covid-19 Misinformation, Which Is Linked to Hesitancy on Vaccination and Boosters

Twenty-one months into the global pandemic, millions of Americans continue to believe misinformation about vaccination and Covid-19, and these beliefs are associated with hesitancy to get themselves and their children vaccinated – or, if they are vaccinated, to get a booster for added protection against the omicron and delta variants. […] Read more »

Inside the growing alliance between anti-vaccine activists and pro-Trump Republicans

… Vaccine mandates have many features that make them a good issue to motivate conservative voters. It invokes a fight about the government regulation and personal liberty. But add in the apocalyptic views of anti-vaccine activists and the political power of arguments against vaccine mandates gets punched up to a […] Read more »

CNN Poll: Three out of four adults think Facebook is making society worse

Roughly three-quarters of adults believe Facebook is making American society worse, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with about half saying they know somebody who was persuaded to believe in a conspiracy theory because of the site’s content. Americans say, 76% to 11%, that Facebook makes society worse, […] Read more »