There are differences across racial and ethnic groups in sources of election information, confidence in those sources, and what people want from news coverage
The survey highlights several key differences in election news sources and attitudes among Black adults, Hispanic adults, white adults, and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adults.
Adults across racial and ethnic categories are more likely to rely on national or local news organizations for information about elections than other sources. However, Black adults are more likely than white adults to frequently or always obtain election news from individuals on social media, candidate websites, voter guides from news organizations, or through friends or family. Moreover, both Black adults and Hispanic adults are significantly more inclined than white adults to receive election-related updates from their community or faith leaders.
Black adults (13%) and Hispanic adults (9%) are more likely to say they have a great deal of confidence in election information from social media platforms compared with their white counterparts (3%).
Concerns about election news coverage are similar across racial and ethnic groups, but Black adults express more apprehension than white adults or AAPI adults that news coverage will overly emphasize the election at the expense of other relevant topics or issues that impact them personally.
While the candidates’ values or character or their positions on key social issues are the highest ranked topics across all racial and ethnic groups, there is a particular interest for these topics among AAPI adults and white adults compared with Hispanic adults or Black adults.
The topics at the local level that are most interesting to adults, regardless of race or ethnicity, are similar to topics prioritized at the national level, with the candidates’ values or character or their positions on key social issues at the top. Black and AAPI adults are more interested than white adults in local news media covering which candidate is ahead or behind in the polling.
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