American News Pathways 2020 Project

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.

The public is more likely to have heard “a lot” about ongoing confrontations between police and protesters than several other stories.

Americans are following the president's statements on the COVID-19 pandemic less closely than a few months ago.

A majority of voters said it is very or somewhat important to them to get messages from the presidential campaigns about important issues.

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.

Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.

Those ages 18 to 29 differ from older Americans in their news consumption habits and in their responses to major news events and coverage.

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.

After three months of news and information, 64% of U.S. adults say the CDC mostly gets the facts about the outbreak right; 30% say the same about President Trump and his administration.