How Americans Navigated the News in 2020: A Tumultuous Year in Review
Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19.
American News Pathways 2020 Project
How the public navigated news in 2020
Pew Research Center’s yearlong initiative focusing on how Americans’ news habits and attitudes related to what they heard, perceived and knew about the 2020 U.S. presidential election and COVID-19. MORE >
Republicans who relied on Trump for news more concerned than other Republicans about election fraud
In studying voters’ views of election fraud, we found these views varied by whether people got their news from the Trump campaign.
Explore our 2020 data tool
A third of U.S. adults say they changed their Thanksgiving plans “a great deal,” while roughly a quarter changed their plans “some.”
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As CDC warned against holiday travel, 57% of Americans say they changed Thanksgiving plans due to COVID-19
A third of U.S. adults say they changed their Thanksgiving plans “a great deal,” while roughly a quarter changed their plans “some.”
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5 facts about the QAnon conspiracy theories
Here are five facts about how much Americans have heard about the QAnon conspiracy theories and their views about them.
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Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they’ve seen their own news sources report facts meant to favor one side
59% of Americans say made-up information that is intended to mislead causes a “great deal” of confusion about the 2020 presidential election.
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Americans blame unfair news coverage on media outlets, not the journalists who work for them
About eight-in-ten Americans (79%) say news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting the news on political and social issues.
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Americans have heard more about clashes between police and protesters than other recent news stories
The public is more likely to have heard “a lot” about ongoing confrontations between police and protesters than several other stories.
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A growing share of voters say it’s important to them to hear from the Trump and Biden campaigns
A majority of voters said it is very or somewhat important to them to get messages from the presidential campaigns about important issues.
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Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable
U.S. adults in this group are less likely to get the facts right about COVID-19 and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims.
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A look at the Americans who believe there is some truth to the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned
Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.
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Younger adults differ from older ones in perceptions of news about COVID-19, George Floyd protests
Those ages 18 to 29 differ from older Americans in their news consumption habits and in their responses to major news events and coverage.
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Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak
Some 61% of U.S. adults say they follow COVID-19 news at both the national and local level equally, and 23% say they pay more attention to local news.
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