Vast majority find incorrect information in news coverage of US election
News consumers say that it is difficult to find out what is fact and what is fiction in the information about the US election. 73% say they have seen inaccurate news coverage about the election at least somewhat often, including 37% who have seen this kind of information extremely or very often.
About half (52%) say they generally find it difficult to determine what is true and what is not when getting news about the election. And 28% separately say that it’s been difficult for them to find reliable information about the presidential election, a survey from Pew Research Centre shows.
58% say they have heard people they know share information about the election that they think is inaccurate at least somewhat often.
“Americans get news about politics and the election in a wide variety of ways. No single platform dominates: About a third of US adults (35%) say TV is their most common source of election news, while roughly one-in-five each say the same about news websites or apps (21%) and social media (20%).”
“Smaller shares primarily use other platforms, including search engines, podcasts, radio or print publications.”
Younger and older are getting election news in very different ways. Nearly half of adults under 30 (46%) say that social media are their most common source of election news, while others in this age category turn to different digital sources like news websites or apps (18%), search engines (12%) or podcasts (6%). One-in-ten say TV is their most common source of election news.
But among adults ages 65 and older, a majority (63%) say TV is their top source. The same is true for 44% of those ages 50 to 64.
There also are huge partisan differences in opinions on how well the news media have done covering the 2024 presidential election.
Overall, more than half of adults say the media have done very (13%) or somewhat (45%) well covering the election, similar to the share who said the same in 2020. But Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to hold this opinion (77% vs. 39%).
Within each party, these perceptions differ by age.
Supporters of the two major political parties are having vastly different experiences with election news, the Pew says:
- Republicans (including independents who lean toward the GOP) are much more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say they have seen inaccurate coverage and that they are having a hard time sorting out the truth.
- And Republicans are less likely than Democrats to say it is easy for them to find reliable information about the election (29% vs. 52%, respectively).
Overall, about seven-in-ten Americans say they are following news about the candidates for the 2024 presidential election very (28%) or fairly (40%) closely. This is up from 58% in April and 65% in July, mirroring a pattern also seen in 2020 in which attention increases closer to Election Day.
About six-in-ten say they are worn out by so much coverage of the campaign, while nearly four-in-ten say they like seeing a lot of coverage. These shares are similar to those measured in April, as well as in surveys conducted in 2020 and 2016.
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