Elisa Shearer

Differences within each party on views of foreign policy emerge based on where Americans turn for political news.

We asked U.S. adults whether they consider each of 13 different news outlets to be a part of the mainstream media or not.

Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19.

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.

More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults say they get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet “often” or “sometimes.”

Partisans differ on whether social media companies’ decisions had a major impact on the election.

59% of Americans say made-up information that is intended to mislead causes a “great deal” of confusion about the 2020 presidential election.

Biden supporters are more likely than Trump supporters to be confident their news sources will make the right call in announcing a winner. And partisans remain worlds apart on how well the U.S. has controlled the coronavirus outbreak.

About two-thirds of Republicans say the U.S. has controlled the outbreak as much as it could have; 88% of Democrats disagree.

Republicans are about four times as likely as Democrats to say voter fraud has been a major issue with mail-in ballots.