Last month, I covered how a poll found that the vast majority of Americans found that the spread of “misinformation” is a problem when it comes to gaining information on current events, such as the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. By definition, misinformation is described as “false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive.” A poll released this week found that misinformation has affected Americans understanding of what is true and not regarding the pandemic.
A poll published Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 78 percent of American adults said that they believe or were unsure of at least one of eight false Wuhan coronavirus statements. Nearly two-thirds of unvaccinated respondents, 64 percent, either believe or are unsure on at least half of the statements. Nineteen percent of vaccinated adults were unsure of at least half of the statements.
In the findings, 38 percent of respondents said they believe the government is exaggerating the number of deaths from COVID-19. A smaller amount, 17 percent, said they believe pregnant women should not get vaccinated. An almost identical number of respondents, 18 percent, said that deaths being caused by the vaccine are being hidden by the U.S. government.
With the first statement tested, “the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths,” 38 percent of respondents have heard and believe it to be true, while 22 percent say they’ve heard and do not know if it is true.
Another statement, “pregnant women should not get the COVID-19 vaccine,” had 17 percent of respondents who’d heard the statement and believed it to be true while 22 percent of respondents had heard it and do not know if it is true.
About one-third of all respondents, 32 percent, believe or are unsure about at least half of the statements.
Unsurprisingly, very few adults polled say they trust social media for information on COVID-19. A mere 13 percent of respondents said they trust YouTube, while an even smaller number, 9 percent, trust Facebook, 6 percent trust Twitter, and 5 percent trust Instagram.
The survey was conducted from October 14 to 24 of 1,519 American adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
