The spread of misinformation poses a considerable threat to public health and the successful management of a global pandemic. For example, studies find that exposure to misinformation can undermine vaccination uptake and compliance with public-health guidelines. As research on the science of misinformation is rapidly emerging, this conceptual Review summarizes […] Read more »
Poll of Local Election Officials Finds Safety Fears for Colleagues — and Themselves
As American democracy finds itself under assault from lies about the 2020 presidential race being “stolen, ” election officials are a prime target in the attempt to undermine future elections. In 2020, in the face of a pandemic, record-high turnout, and a flood of disinformation about the election process and […] Read more »
Americans’ attitudes on internet regulations go beyond party lines
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Gallup released a new report today that finds Americans attitudes go beyond partisanship when it comes to internet regulation and free expression online, issues at the core of today’s debates on the future of democracy, elections and the pandemic. The research […] Read more »
Confidence Declines in CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci
Battered by waves of Covid-19 and confusion over shifting government messages about it, Americans’ confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined in January with drops both among groups of Democrats/Democratic-leaning independents and Republicans/Republican-leaning independents, according to January survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of […] Read more »
The immovable Republican Party and ‘ink-blot politics’
Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. It was an effort to stop the procedural certification of a presidential election that Joe Biden won and Trump lost. The mob was egged on by conspiracies and Trump’s lies about that 2020 election. Those are facts. […] Read more »
CBS News poll: Is social media making things easier or harder?
Social media has been in the spotlight these days, drawing questions about its role on January 6, and in politics more widely. Most Americans, from their perspective, report a mix of effects: they call it at once an informative source of news, saying it gives them a voice, but also […] Read more »