Health Misinformation and Trust

The latest KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll examines misinformation related to the measles vaccine and the public’s views of the U.S. government and social media companies’ role in moderating false claims online.

From the 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants – the largest nationally representative survey focused on this group – comes five key facts about information gaps regarding public charge rules and how these information gaps can prevent immigrants from getting financial assistance they need.

Majorities of U.S. adults perceive racism to be a major problem in politics, the criminal justice system, and policing, with some variance across racial and ethnic groups, while a third see racism as a major problem in health care. This may reflect high levels of trust in health care professionals compared to the police and the courts.

About a third (32%) of the public view racism as a major problem in health care, fewer than say the same about politics (56%), the criminal justice system (54%), and policing (51%), a new KFF report on the public’s views of racism finds. The lower levels of perceived racism in…

In this column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman explains the organization’s role in providing independent, authoritative policy analysis, polling and journalism and provides an overview of the standards and practices in place to maintain credibility in an era of declining trust and rampant misinformation.

This fact sheet offers a look back at 10 issues that KFF tracked closely during 2023 in its polling, policy analysis and journalism, including summaries of major findings and news stories.

A majority of the public agrees misinformation in the U.S. is a problem. Many are also uncertain about the accuracy of information they come across about current topics in the news. This poll finding examines this uncertainty for abortion, the 2024 presidential election, COVID-19, and the conflict in the Middle East.

This finding examines how vaccine attitudes and uptake differ between Republicans who support of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and those who don’t, looking at uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine, the flu vaccine, and confidence in the safety of vaccines.

In this column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman examines the threat posed by health misinformation and opportunities to combat it by relying on the messengers the public trusts most for health information, which includes doctors and local television news sources.

Nearly half of adults say that they will “definitely” or “probably” get the newly recommended COVID-19 vaccine, though most parents are not planning to get the shot for their children, according to the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll. Among all adults, 23% say they will definitely get the new…