Table 3.
Percentages of sample believing in conspiracy beliefs by demographic characteristics and news use in March 2020 (N = 840).
| Characteristic | % of Sample | Pharma | CDC | Chinese |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 44.1 | 9.6 | 27.0 | 29.1 |
| Female | 55.6 | 19.1 | 20.3 | 27.8 |
| Age | ||||
| 18–29 | 20.7 | 26.9 | 22.7 | 35.1 |
| 30–44 | 23.8 | 21.9 | 30.1 | 29.8 |
| 45–59 | 24.5 | 10.9 | 25.1 | 30.3 |
| 60+ | 31.0 | 4.3 | 17.1 | 22.3 |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||
| White | 74.7 | 9.7 | 22.3 | 25.5 |
| Black | 13.9 | 36.3 | 31.4 | 43.8 |
| Hispanic | 15.4 | 29.1 | 28.6 | 33.8 |
| Education | ||||
| High school or less | 32.9 | 27.0 | 31.8 | 42.7 |
| Some College | 48.2 | 12.1 | 21.7 | 24.0 |
| Post-Graduate | 19.0 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 12.7 |
| Income | ||||
| <$30K | 26.4 | 27.4 | 27.2 | 37.0 |
| $30 to $85 | 41.1 | 13.7 | 21.5 | 28.5 |
| $85 to >$200K | 32.4 | 5.6 | 22.5 | 21.4 |
| Political ideology | ||||
| Conservative | 29.8 | 11.1 | 40.2 | 37.1 |
| Neither | 40.0 | 16.4 | 22.6 | 30.6 |
| Liberal | 30.2 | 16.2 | 8.0 | 17.4 |
| News Source | ||||
| Mainstream TV | 41.9 | 13.3 | 15.1 | 24.7 |
| Conservative | 18.1 | 13.4 | 33.5 | 51.6 |
| Liberal | 11.1 | 19.6 | 11.0 | 21.8 |
| Aggregators | 20.9 | 24.2 | 25.0 | 32.2 |
| Social | 19.6 | 19.8 | 28.6 | 41.8 |
| Mainstream print | 21.0 | 15.0 | 13.2 | 18.4 |
| Total | 100 | 14.8 | 23.5 | 28.3 |
Note. Pharma = Pharmaceutical industry responsible; CDC = Damages Trump; Chinese = Created virus. Bolded proportions are for response distributions that are significantly different (p < .05) either across demographic groups or within each media use.