A Year of U.S. Public Opinion on the Coronavirus Pandemic
The biggest takeaway may be the extent to which the decidedly nonpartisan virus met with an increasingly partisan response.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Journalism
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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.
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Single-party control in Washington is common at the beginning of a new presidency, but tends not to last long
Unified government at the beginning of a president’s first term has been the norm, especially for Democratic presidents.
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Racial, ethnic diversity increases yet again with the 117th Congress
124 lawmakers today identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American, a 97% increase over the 107th Congress of 2001-02.
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News Use Across Social Media Platforms in 2020
About half of U.S. adults say they get news from social media “often” or “sometimes,” and this use is spread out across a number of different sites. Facebook stands out as a regular source of news for about a third of Americans.
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More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices
More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults say they get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet “often” or “sometimes.”
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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.
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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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Most Republicans Approve of Trump’s Post-election Messaging, but About a Third Say It Has Been Wrong
Partisans differ on whether social media companies’ decisions had a major impact on the election.
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Measuring News Consumption in a Digital Era
As news outlets morph and multiply, both surveys and passive data collection tools face challenges.
