Drawing on KFF’s Misinformation Pilot Ballot, KFF at the moment launched three follow-up experiences inspecting publicity to, and perception in, well being misinformation amongst Black adults, Hispanic adults, and rural communities.
As with most people, massive shares inside every group are unsure about whether or not every of 10 false well being claims are true or not, describing them as both “most likely true” or “most likely false.” This uncertainty leaves folks weak to misinformation but additionally offers a chance to fight it.
The shares who say every of the false claims is “undoubtedly true” ranges from 3% to 21%, relying on the declare and the subgroup, with a lot bigger shares falling within the unsure center. For instance, most Black adults (61%), Hispanic adults (65%), and rural adults (65%) say that the false declare that COVID-19 vaccines have triggered 1000’s of deaths in in any other case wholesome folks is “most likely true” or “most likely false.”
The experiences additionally study every group’s sources for well being info, together with conventional broadcast, print and on-line information retailers, and social media, in addition to who they’d belief for well being info.
Throughout all three teams, native tv information emerged as one of many conventional information sources folks have been most probably to belief “so much” for well being info. Social media is broadly used throughout all three teams, significantly for youthful Black adults, and Spanish-speaking and youthful Hispanic adults, although social media sources have been far much less trusted for well being info.
The nationwide ballot, which was launched in August, and these follow-up experiences are a part of a brand new KFF program space aimed toward figuring out and monitoring well being misinformation and belief, with an emphasis on communities extra incessantly impacted by misinformation, reminiscent of folks of colour, immigrants, and rural populations.
KFF will even quickly launch an everyday “Well being Misinformation Monitor,” which can doc rising well being misinformation, establish its main sources, and study the position that social media and information retailers play in its unfold. Join future KFF alerts on this matter.
Designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF, the KFF Well being Misinformation Monitoring Ballot Pilot was performed Might 23-June 12, 2023, on-line and by phone amongst a nationally consultant pattern of two,007 U.S. adults, together with 510 Black non-Hispanic adults, 514 Hispanic adults, and 218 adults who in stay rural areas. Interviews have been performed in English and in Spanish. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 share factors for the total pattern, plus or minus 6 share factors for Black adults, plus or minus 6 share factors for Hispanic adults, and plus or minus 9 share factors for rural adults. For outcomes primarily based on different subgroups, the margin of sampling error could also be increased. Help for this work was supplied by the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis (RWJF). The views expressed don’t essentially replicate the views of RWJF. KFF maintains full editorial management over all of its coverage evaluation, polling, and journalism actions.