Partisan Divide About The Importance of Fake News

Nearly nine in ten Republican and Republican leaning U.S. adults believe that made-up news is a very big or moderately big issue facing the country, a response that fell along partisan lines. By comparison, Pew found that only about three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic leaning adults believed that made-up news is a very big or moderately big issue.

Generally, U.S. adults were more likely to say that made-up news/information was a bigger problem than climate change, racism, terrorism, or sexism. Adults between the age of 18 and 29-year-olds were, overall, less concerned about fake news, less likely to blame journalists, and more likely to have taken steps to minimize their exposure than older cohorts of U.S. respondents.

Fake news, a commonly used synonym for made-up news, is often utilized by the president to discredit and bash his critics, which could explain the stark partisan divide, represented in the chart below.