Poll: Majority of Americans Believe US Politicians Spread More Misinformation Than Russia, China

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The majority of Americans believe that politicians and social media in the United States spread misinformation online more often than foreign actors, including Russia and China, according to a joint poll by the Associated Press, the NORC centre for public affairs and the University of the Pearson Institute in Chicago.

When asked to pick who was the most to blame for the spread of misinformation about current events in the US and the world, 77% of respondents picked social media users, while social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and politicians were picked by 72% of those surveyed each.

Slightly over a half of all respondents considered the Russian and Chinese governments responsible for spreading false information, 54 and 53%, respectively. Iranian authorities were chosen by 39% of the Americans surveyed, and 41% blamed political structures of other countries, compared to 48% of US citizens blaming their own government.

Older people were considerably more prone to believe in the involvement of foreign governments than younger people, the poll showed.

A total of 81% percent of Americans consider the spread of misinformation a serious issue.

The survey was conducted among 1,071 Americans aged over 18 on September 9-13.