State of the Facts Survey
Problem
USAFacts needs consistent national data on how Americans find and judge information.
USAFacts is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic organization that makes data easy for Americans to access and understand. Its work aims to help ground public debate in facts.
The State of the Facts survey asks how Americans decide whether information is factual, where they get information about government, and which sources they trust. Repeating the survey shows how those answers change across elections, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the spread of AI tools.
Solution
NORC conducts a recurring national survey on facts, information sources, and trust.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts fielded the survey in 2019, 2020, 2024, and 2026. Staff from both organizations collaborate on all aspects of the study.
The AP-NORC Center is a partnership between The Associated Press and NORC. It conducts social science research on newsworthy topics in the public interest.
Survey Design
- Sample: Each round surveys between 1,019 and 1,043 adults nationwide.
- Panel: Respondents are members of AmeriSpeak®, NORC’s probability-based panel. They complete the survey online or by telephone.
- Precision: The margin of sampling error ranges from ±4.0 to ±4.2 percentage points.
- Trend questions: Core questions repeat from round to round so results can be compared over time.
What the Survey Measures
Core questions ask about:
- What makes people consider information factual, such as whether it is based in data or explains how it was gathered
- How easy it is to find factual information, tell fact from opinion, and know whether information is true
- How closely people follow topics such as health care, crime, and the environment
- Where people get information about government and how much they trust each source
- How much people trust federal government information on specific topics
- How often people think policymakers, candidates, and the media rely on facts
Each round also covers current issues. The 2019 round produced a second report on facts in elections. The 2020 round produced separate reports on the presidential election and COVID-19. The 2024 round covered the presidential election and artificial intelligence. The 2026 round asked again about AI and added questions on the midterm elections.
Result
The series tracks how views of facts and trust in information have changed since 2019.
Asked what makes information factual, between 60 and 66 percent of adults in each round said they are extremely or very likely to consider information factual if it is based in data. Between 71 and 77 percent said it is extremely or very important that information explains how it was gathered.
In 2019, at least 8 in 10 Democrats and Republicans agreed that facts must be accurate, complete, and transparent.
When it comes to telling what’s true, more adults in every round have said it is easy to tell fact from opinion than have said it is easy to know whether information is true. In 2026, those shares were 62 percent and 37 percent, respectively.
In 2020, 43 percent said it was difficult to find information about the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, 34 percent said it was difficult to know whether election information was true.
Trust in federal government information declined between 2024 and 2026 on many topics asked about in both years. Trust in information about inflation and the cost of living fell from 26 percent to 18 percent. Trust in information about health care fell from 26 percent to 16 percent.
In 2026, 19 percent said they are extremely or very likely to consider information factual if federal government agencies verified it, down from 29 percent in 2024. Over the same period, the share of Republicans who trusted information from federal agencies at least a moderate amount rose from 26 percent to 49 percent. The share of Democrats fell from 72 percent to 41 percent.
In 2026, 62 percent said they had used a federal government website, such as those of the Census Bureau or the Internal Revenue Service, to look up information.
On the role of facts in politics, 9 percent said in 2019 that candidates’ campaign messages are always or often based in fact. In 2024 and 2026, 10 percent said the same about decisions made by policymakers.
In 2019, 37 percent said political division is more a result of Americans relying on different facts than having different beliefs about how to address problems. That share was 43 percent in 2020, 45 percent in 2024, and 43 percent in 2026.
Turning to information sources, 42 percent got information about government from social media at least once a day in 2026, more than from any other source. Twelve percent trusted that information a great deal or quite a bit. Sixty-four percent said they had felt the need to limit their consumption of news about government and politics because of overload or fatigue.
As for AI, 64 percent in 2024 were not confident that information from AI chatbots is reliable and factual. In 2026, 49 percent were not very or not at all confident that information from AI chatbots or search results is reliable. Daily use of AI chatbots rose from 6 percent in 2024 to 11 percent in 2026.
Both USAFacts and The AP published articles on the 2026 findings, and the findings also informed stories by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Photo Credit: Meg Kinnard. Copyright 2014. The Associated Press
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Project Leads
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Jennifer Benz
Senior Vice President -
Emily Alvarez
Senior Research Scientist -
Dan Malato
Senior Research Director
