Some red flags in recent polls on #covid19 in the US.
@pewresearch reports more of the public now believes the outbreak has been made “a bigger deal than it really is.” 63% of Republicans (38% of all US adults) felt this way, up significantly from April journalism.org/2020/06/29/thr…
More Americans say it is now *harder* to identify facts about coronavirus than in the first weeks of the pandemic. Also, more believe media/news on the virus is *more partisan* than it was at the start: 41% saying it is more partisan now vs 22% saying partisanship has lessened.
.@KFF polling has found a much larger share of the US public reported leaving the house in June compared to April. For example, over half (54%) of Americans reported visiting friends and family in June compared to 30% back in April. kff.org/report-section…
In fact, many more Americans believe the worst of the pandemic is already behind us. "40 percent of Americans now believe the worst of Covid-19 is in the past, up from 26 percent in early April." This includes 61% of Republicans.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
.@KHNews reported on problems with misinformation and partisanship, with Americans increasingly rejecting info that doesn’t match their leanings. For example, Republicans are now more likely to believe covid “was never a threat and that the worst is over.” khn.org/news/conflicti…
The reporting finds older Americans in particular experience a “perfect storm” when it comes to the virus: higher susceptibility and also a higher rate of being “targets of misinformation and online scams” than younger people, which further erodes trust and complicates messaging.
The Pew survey highlighted the extent of misinformation penetration, reporting a large majority of Americans heard the conspiracy theory that powerful individuals intentionally created the pandemic, and 36% of those who heard of the theory think it is probably or definitely true.
So, it's concerning we’re seeing a combination of decreasing worries about covid, growing confusion, and more partisanship and confusion about what constitutes “truth”, all at moment when is a marked increase in covid cases in a majority of US states. kff.org/coronavirus-co…
If case numbers continue to escalate it could reverse some of these trends, with the effects of the virus more plainly in view across the country (much of this polling was done prior to the major increases we’ve seen over the last two weeks). Still, that’s certainly not a given.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.