About Seven-in-Ten U.S. Adults Say They Need to Take Breaks From COVID-19 News

Americans continue to pay close attention to news about the coronavirus outbreak both nationally and locally. In doing so, they rely on a broad mix of media, government and other providers of news, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted April 20-26, 2020, of 10,139 U.S. adults who a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2020
Main Authors: Mitchell, Amy, Oliphant, J Baxter, Shearer, Elisa
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Pew Research Center
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Americans continue to pay close attention to news about the coronavirus outbreak both nationally and locally. In doing so, they rely on a broad mix of media, government and other providers of news, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted April 20-26, 2020, of 10,139 U.S. adults who are part of the Center's American Trends Panel. But the continuous news churn has had an impact. A majority of Americans say they need to take breaks from it, many say it makes them feel worse emotionally and half say they find it difficult to sift through what is true and what is not, according to the survey, which is a part of the Election News Pathways project. About nine-in-ten Americans (87%) are following coronavirus news fairly or very closely, a figure roughly on par with surveys conducted in March. In getting this news, more than half the public (56%) says national news outlets are a major source, and nearly as many (51%) say this of public health organizations and officials.