In these divisive political times, the American public actually has a pretty unambiguous message for Donald Trump: “Cool it with the tweets.” Nearly seven-in-ten Americans say that Trump’s use of Twitter is a bad idea, and only nine percent say they strongly support his use of the 140-character medium to […] Read more »
How America Changed During Barack Obama’s Presidency
Barack Obama campaigned for the U.S. presidency on a platform of change. As he prepares to leave office, the country he led for eight years is undeniably different. Profound social, demographic and technological changes have swept across the United States during Obama’s tenure, as have important shifts in government policy […] Read more »
How pollsters could use social media data to improve election forecasts
Donald Trump’s Nov. 8 victory surprised almost everyone. But if pollsters had looked at Twitter, they might have recognized that the race was close — or so we learned in our recent research. Even when polls were showing a big lead for Hillary Clinton, real-time analysis of social media was […] Read more »
Little Confidence in Major American Institutions
Few Americans have much confidence in many key U.S. institutions like local and federal government, big business, agencies like the FBI and CIA and the national news media, according to results from a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal. The exceptions: A combined 73 percent of American adults have either a […] Read more »
Many Americans Believe Fake News Is Sowing Confusion
In the wake of the 2016 election, everyone from President Obama to Pope Francis has raised concerns about fake news and the potential impact on both political life and innocent individuals. Some fake news has been widely shared, and so-called “pizzagate” stories led a North Carolina man to bring a […] Read more »
Voters have plenty of thoughts on fake news and Trump’s tweets
President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t held a press conference since July, but his tweets fly on a regular schedule. Whether it’s attacking a labor union chief who accused him of lying about a deal to save Carrier Corp. jobs, or a young woman who questioned him at a political forum, Twitter […] Read more »