The majority of Americans are concerned about the media spreading misinformation about the upcoming election, according to a newly released poll.
Pollsters from the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 53 percent of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the media spreading “inaccurate information” or “disinformation.”
The mistrust of the media is bipartisan.
"Although most adults, regardless of age, race or ethnicity, or partisanship, tune into news about elections, only 14% express a great deal of confidence in election-related information they receive from national sources, and 11% say the same about local news media," the pollsters report.In particular, people are worried about the news containing misinformation and amplifying divisions. About half of adults say they are extremely or very concerned about news organizations reporting inaccurate information (53%). Almost as many worry news outlets will report unverified information (47%) or focus too much on divisions or controversies (48%).
The pollsters continued, "The survey also reveals some important differences based on people’s race or ethnicity, age, or political affiliation. For example, Black adults (13%) and Hispanic adults (9%) are more likely than white adults (3%) to have a great deal of confidence in the news about elections they obtain from social media."
When looking across party lines, the pollsters found that Democrats and Republicans have common ground in what they want to see the media cover. An 82 percent majority of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans said they "want national media to report about candidates’ positions on key social issues and policies." Similarly, 81 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans want more reporting on candidate's values and character.
The nationwide poll was conducted by the Media Insight Project, a collaboration of the American Press Institute and The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from March 21 to March 25, 2024, using the AmeriSpeak ® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 2,468 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2.9 percentage points.
