Poll: 2010 Voters Misinformed on Key Issues

Includes Viewers of Fox News, MSNBC, and other Media

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A new poll finds both a widespread perception by 2010 voters of misinformation in the election campaign, as well as strong evidence that many actually were misinformed on key issues. The election was the first since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down limits on election-related advertising.

The poll - conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, based at the University of Maryland, and Knowledge Networks - shows that 9 in 10 voters last November had encountered what they considered false or misleading information during the campaign. According to 56 percent of respondents, this campaign misinformation occurred frequently, while 54 percent found it more frequent than usual. Only three percent found it less frequent than usual.

Further, the study finds indications of voters misinformed on key issues - that is, they display beliefs at odds with the conclusions of government agencies generally regarded as non-partisan, consisting of professional economists and scientists. Voter misinformation correlates with their exposure to certain news sources, as well as the way they cast their ballot.

Specifically, the study finds varying degrees of misinformation among viewers of Fox News, the broadcast TV network newscasts, MSNBC and public broadcasting.

"While we do not have data to make a clear comparison to the past, this high level of misinformation and the fact that voters perceived a higher than usual level of false and misleading information, suggests that the increased flow of money into political advertising may have contributed to a higher level of misinformation," said Clay Ramsay, WorldPublicOpinion.org research director.

In most cases, those with greater levels of exposure to news sources have lower levels of misinformation. There are, however, a number of cases where greater exposure to a particular news source actually increases misinformation on some issues.

For example, those who watched Fox News almost daily are significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe:

• Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely);
• Most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points);
• The economy is getting worse (26 points);
• Most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points);
• Stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points);
• My income taxes have gone up (14 points);
• Auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points);
• When TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points;
• It is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points).

There are cases with other news sources as well:

• Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates;
• Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans opposed TARP.

The poll of 848 Americans was fielded from November 6 to 15, 2010. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percent. It was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population.

Expanded poll summary here.
Full poll report here.

WorldPublicOpinion.org is a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy and funded by the Calvert Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

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