KFF Misinformation Poll Snapshot: Public Views Misinformation As A Major Problem, Feels Uncertain About Accuracy Of Information On Current Events

As part of KFF’s ongoing effort to identify and track the rise and prevalence of misinformation in the U.S, KFF released the Health Misinformation Tracking Poll Pilot earlier this year. The pilot poll found that adults across demographics were uncertain about the accuracy of many health-related false and inaccurate claims and had limited trust in both traditional and social media as sources of health information¹ . The latest poll examines the public’s view of misinformation as a problem and their perception of the accuracy of information on four major news topics in the U.S. today.

The findings suggest two potential scenarios both of which likely exist to some extent. On one hand, since so many people are dubious of the information they see including any false and misleading claims, perhaps these claims do not sink in as often as they are identified, therefore limiting the impact of misinformation on people who are skeptical of most of the information they come across. On the other hand, people, without a strong sense of what to trust, might be more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. Regardless, the poll suggests an opportunity to help the public get more clarity on how to know when to trust a source or piece of information.

Large Majorities Across Groups See Misinformation As A “Major Problem”

The latest KFF poll finds a vast majority of adults (83%) say the spread of false and inaccurate information in the United States is a “major problem,” which is relatively unchanged since June.

At least three-quarters of Black adults (84%), Hispanic adults (76%), and White adults (85%) say the spread of false and inaccurate information is a “major problem” in the U.S. In an area of partisan agreement, large majorities of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (88%), Republicans and Republican-leading independents (81%), and independents (78%) say the same.

Majorities of adults across educational levels also agree that the spread of false and inaccurate information is a “major problem,” though a somewhat smaller share (79%) of adults with a high school education or less say this compared to adults with a college degree or higher (88%).

Most Are Uncertain About Information They Come Across On Current News Topics

With majorities across demographic groups saying the spread of false information is a problem in the U.S., the latest polling from KFF finds that a majority of adults express uncertainty about the accuracy of information they come across relating to four major news topics.

Most of the public say they feel uncertain about the accuracy “all or most of the time” or “sometimes” when they come across information on the four news topics asked about, with at least one in four saying they feel uncertain about the accuracy of information “all or most of the time” regarding the conflict in Gaza and Israel (32%), the upcoming 2024 presidential election (31%), and COVID-19 (27%). A smaller share, roughly one-fifth of adults (18%), say the same regarding information about abortion and reproductive health-related issues.

On the other hand, one in four or fewer adults say they are “rarely” uncertain about the accuracy when they come across information about abortion and reproductive health (23%), COVID-19 (19%), the conflict in Gaza and Israel (13%), and the presidential election (10%). Even smaller shares, fewer than one in ten, say they are “never” uncertain about the accuracy of information about each issue.

Some Groups Are More Likely To Express Uncertainty About Information About Specific News Topics

While a majority of the public say they feel uncertain at least “sometimes” about the accuracy of information they come across on all these topics, there are some differences by key groups. Namely, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are far more likely than Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to say they feel uncertain “all or most of the time” about the accuracy of information around the 2024 presidential election, COVID-19² , and abortion and reproductive health issues.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are nearly four times as likely to say they feel uncertain about the accuracy of COVID-19 information “all or most of the time” (43%) compared to Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (11%). About three in ten (29%) independents report the same. A third of Democrats (34%) and one-fourth (25%) of independents say they feel uncertain about the accuracy of COVID-19 information they come across “rarely” or “never,” compared to 14% of Republicans.

Republicans are also more likely to report feeling uncertainty about the accuracy of information related to the presidential election. About four in ten (39%) Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they feel uncertain “all or most of the time” about the accuracy of information on this news topic, compared to a quarter of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Three in ten independents say they feel uncertain “all or most of the time” about the accuracy of presidential election-related information.

Uncertainty about the accuracy of information people come across about COVID-19 is also related to COVID-19 vaccination status. Adults who have never received a COVID-19 vaccine are about twice as likely as adults who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to say that they are uncertain “all or most of the time” about the accuracy of information pertaining to the virus (46% vs 22%, respectively).

About one in five (18%) adults say they feel uncertain “all or most of the time” when it comes to the accuracy of information they come across about abortion and reproductive health issues. Uncertainty about the accuracy of information on this issue is similar for adults across age, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity, as well as of whether they live in a state where abortion is restricted or even banned. However, women of reproductive age (ages 18-49), for whom information about abortion and reproductive health is particularly relevant, are more likely than men in their same age group to say the feel uncertain “all or most of the time” about the accuracy of information about those topics (21% vs. 13%, respectively).

When asked about information they come across about the conflict in Gaza and Israel, 35% of adults ages 18-49 say they feel uncertain about the accuracy “all or most of the time,” a larger share than their older counterparts (27%).

The findings suggest potential scenarios about the current information environment. Since so many people are dubious of the information they see including any false and misleading claims, perhaps these claims do not sink in as often as they are identified, therefore limiting the impact of misinformation on people who are skeptical of most of the information they come across. On the other hand, people, without a strong sense of what to trust, might be more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. Regardless, the poll suggests an opportunity to help people get more clarity on how to know when to trust a source or piece of information.

This KFF Health Tracking Poll/COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF. The survey was conducted October 31- November 7, 2023, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 1,301 U.S. adults in English (1,222) and in Spanish (79). The sample includes 1,016 adults (n=52 in Spanish) reached through the SSRS Opinion Panel either online (n=991) or over the phone (n=25). The SSRS Opinion Panel is a nationally representative probability-based panel where panel members are recruited randomly in one of two ways: (a) Through invitations mailed to respondents randomly sampled from an Address-Based Sample (ABS) provided by Marketing Systems Groups (MSG) through the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence (CDS); (b) from a dual-frame random digit dial (RDD) sample provided by MSG. For the online panel component, invitations were sent to panel members by email followed by up to three reminder emails.

Another 285 (n=27 in Spanish) interviews were conducted from a random digit dial telephone sample of prepaid cell phone numbers obtained through MSG. Phone numbers used for the prepaid cell phone component were randomly generated from a cell phone sampling frame with disproportionate stratification aimed at reaching Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black respondents. Stratification was based on incidence of the race/ethnicity groups within each frame.

Respondents in the phone samples received a $15 incentive via a check received by mail, and web respondents received a $5 electronic gift card incentive (some harder-to-reach groups received a $10 electronic gift card). In order to ensure data quality, cases were removed if they failed attention check questions in the online version of the questionnaire, or if they had over 30% item non-response, or had a length less than one quarter of the mean length by mode. Based on this criterion, one case was removed.

The combined cell phone and panel samples were weighted to match the sample’s demographics to the national U.S. adult population based on parameters derived from the Census Bureau’s 2022 Current Population Survey (CPS), 2021 Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement data from the CPS, and the 2023 KFF Benchmarking survey with ABS and prepaid cell phone samples. The demographic variables included in weighting for the general population sample are sex, age, education, race/ethnicity, region, education, civic engagement, internet use, and political party identification by race/ethnicity. The sample of registered voters was weighted separately to match the U.S. registered voter population using the parameters above plus recalled vote in the 2020 presidential election by county quintiles grouped by Trump vote share. Both weights take into account differences in the probability of selection for each sample type (prepaid cell phone and panel). This includes adjustment for the sample design and geographic stratification of the cell phone sample, within household probability of selection, and the design of the panel-recruitment procedure.

The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the full sample and registered voters is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Numbers of respondents and margins of sampling error for key subgroups are shown in the table below. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Sample sizes and margins of sampling error for other subgroups are available by request. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error and there may be other unmeasured error in this or any other public opinion poll. KFF public opinion and survey research is a charter member of the Transparency Initiative of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

1. The Health Misinformation Tracking Poll Pilot asked about the traditional and social media sources that the public regularly uses, as well as the level of trust in health-related information from each source. This KFF Misinformation Poll Snapshot asks how often the public is uncertain when they come across information on four news topics, without specifying the source of that information. ↩︎
2. Past KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor surveys from 2021 and 2022, as well as the KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll Pilot, found that significant shares of adults were uncertain about false claims pertaining to COVID-19, including, but not limited to: the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and various treatments such as Ivermectin, the effect of vaccines on pregnancy and fertility, and the U.S. government’s reporting of COVID-19 related-deaths. ↩︎