Plus, differences in how Democrats and Republicans behave on Twitter
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October 17, 2020
** Weekly Roundup
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The latest findings from Pew Research Center · Subscribe ↗ ([link removed])
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** Deep divisions in views of the election process – and whether it will be clear who won ([link removed])
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A large majority of registered voters say it is important for Americans to know who won the presidential election within a day or two of Election Day ([link removed]) . But just half say they are very or somewhat confident that this will happen, including nearly identical shares who support Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump and Biden supporters have deep disagreements over several other aspects of the election and voting process, including whether mail-in and absentee ballots will be counted as voters intended.
* Mail-in voting became much more common in 2020 primaries as COVID-19 spread ([link removed])
* See all our Election 2020 research ([link removed])
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** Differences in how Democrats and Republicans behave on Twitter ([link removed])
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Democrats and Republicans have notable differences in how they use Twitter ([link removed]) , from how often they tweet to the accounts they follow or mention in their own posts. Most U.S. adults on Twitter post rarely, but a small share of highly active users – most of whom are Democrats – produce the vast majority of tweets. In both parties, Twitter users tend to be younger and have higher levels of educational attainment than those who do not use the platform.
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** White Christians continue to favor Trump over Biden, but support has slipped ([link removed])
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President Donald Trump continues to be White Christians’ preferred candidate ([link removed]) , but support among voters in three major traditions – White Catholics, White Protestants who are not evangelical and even White evangelical Protestants – has slipped since August. Joe Biden is leading among every other religious group analyzed, including Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated.
** Latino voters have growing confidence in Biden on key issues, while confidence in Trump remains low ([link removed])
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As Election Day nears, U.S. Hispanic registered voters ([link removed]) express growing confidence in Joe Biden’s ability to handle key issues like the coronavirus outbreak, with women and college graduates especially confident. By contrast, Hispanics’ views of Donald Trump on major issues are largely negative and mostly unchanged from June.
* Latinos make up a record 17% of Florida registered voters in 2020 ([link removed])
** Republicans who rely most on Trump for COVID-19 news see the outbreak differently from those who don’t ([link removed])
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Republicans who turn to Donald Trump ([link removed]) for coronavirus news are more likely than other Republicans to say the U.S. has controlled the outbreak as much as it could have, that the pandemic has been overblown and that Trump is getting the facts about the outbreak right.
* Before Trump tested positive for coronavirus, Republicans’ attention to pandemic had sharply declined ([link removed])
* See all our COVID-19 research ([link removed])
** Social media led 23% of U.S. users to change their view on a political or social issue ([link removed])
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Roughly a quarter of U.S. adult social media users say they have changed their views ([link removed]) about a political or social issue because of something they saw on social media in the past year, up from 15% who said this in 2018. Asked to elaborate on what they changed their views about, these adults often mention the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality, as well as their views of political parties, ideologies and political figures.
* 64% of Americans say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. today ([link removed])
** Many globally are as concerned about climate change as about the spread of infectious diseases ([link removed])
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** Voters’ views of McConnell and Schumer are negative and deeply divided by partisanship ([link removed])
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** Decoded: Testing survey questions ahead of time can help sharpen a poll’s focus ([link removed])
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** From our research
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92% ([link removed])
The share of U.S. adults who say it is very important that people who are legally qualified and want to vote are able to cast a ballot ([link removed]) .
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© 2020 Pew Research Center
