Americans say fake news is a bigger problem than climate change, illegal immigration, racism, and sexism
- More Americans say "made-up" news and information is a very big problem for the US than say climate change, terrorism, illegal immigration, racism, and sexism are very big problems.
- While 50% of Americans say made-up news and information is a very big problem in the country today, 46% say the same of climate change, according to a new Pew Research poll.
- Meanwhile, 49% say violent crime is a very big problem, 40% say the same of racism, and 38% feel similarly about illegal immigration.
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More Americans say "made-up" news and information is a very big problem in the US than say the same of climate change and other global threats, including illegal immigration, racism, and sexism, according to a new Pew Research poll.
While 50% of Americans say made-up news and information is a very big problem in the country today, 46% say the same of climate change.
Meanwhile, 49% say violent crime is a very big problem, 40% say the same of racism, and 38% feel similarly about illegal immigration. Drug addiction and health care costs topped the list of respondents' concerns.
A large majority - 68% - of Americans believe made-up news greatly impacts Americans' confidence in the government, and 54% said it's having a major impact on Americans' confidence in each other.
But responses to the issue, which is sometimes described as "fake news," are divided along partisan lines.
Concerns about what is sometimes called "fake news" is greater among more conservative respondents, and President Donald Trump has used the charge of "fake news" to try to shift public attention from challenging stories about him and his administration. While 62% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say made-up news is a very big problem in the US today, just 40% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the same.
Almost three times as many Republicans as Democrats blame journalists for creating "a lot" of inaccurate or misleading news and information.
The Pew poll surveyed 6,127 U.S. adults between Feb. 19 and March 4, 2019 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.