Social Cohesion Radar 2023 - USA

The study on social cohesion in the USA was conducted by pollytix strategic research on behalf of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. In the survey period from October 4 to 17, 2023, 2,018 people aged 16 and over were surveyed in online interviews (CAWI) on the following topics: media use and media trust, trust in fellow human beings and institutions, dealing with disinformation, combating disinformation. The respondents were selected by means of a non-probability selection from an online access panel by Bilendi & respondi. The study is part of the Radar project, which has been investigating various aspects of social cohesion both nationally and internationally since 2013.<br>1. Media use and media confidence: Knowledge of different social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, etc.), frequency of use of these social media; media trust.

2. Trust in fellow human beings and institutions: general trust in people; trust in institutions (political parties, courts, police, US government, Congress, social media, science); sense of justice (e.g. social differences in the country are fair, pay according to performance, etc.).

3. Dealing with disinformation: Uncertainty regarding the truthfulness of information on the Internet; knowledge of the term disinformation; frequency of perception of deliberately spread false information on the Internet; source of perceived disinformation; frequency of perception of disinformation in different social media; frequency of disinformation via messenger or text message by people from the environment; topics of perceived online disinformation; frequency of online disinformation dissemination by different actors (politicians and political parties, media and journalists, bloggers and influencers, foreign governments, foreign media and journalists, protest groups and activists, individuals, commercial enterprises, US government); disinformation with the aim of influencing political opinions more often by political actors from the conservative side, actors from the liberal side or both to the same extent; disinformation in the USA more often by political actors from the USA, political actors from abroad or both to the same extent; assessment of the risk of influencing opinions through disinformation (self and others); Perception of disinformation on the Internet as a problem for society; extent of attention paid to the topic of disinformation on the Internet; concerns about disinformation in the USA (declining trust in politics and democracy, declining credibility of the media, society becoming divided, influence on the outcome of elections in the USA); personal handling of disinformation (accidentally liking or spreading false information on the Internet, reporting a post or account on social media containing disinformation, alerting someone to the spread of false information with a comment or message, actively researching whether a message is true, deliberately liking or spreading false information on the Internet, asking the sender of the message about the source and truthfulness of dubious messages, using the services of a fact-checking organization).

4. Fighting disinformation: importance of different actors to fight disinformation (platforms, government, media, citizens, schools and other educational institutions); actors most likely to be committed to fighting disinformation (platforms, government, media, citizens, schools and other educational institutions, none of the above); most competent actor to fight disinformation; opinion on disinformation (citizens should only have access to correct information on the internet and be protected from disinformation vs. Citizens have a right to freedom of expression, even if disinformation remains on the internet; disinformation is a real problem and poses a threat to social cohesion and democracy vs. disinformation is just a term used to denigrate alternative opinions and portray them as untrustworthy.

Demography: sex; age (years and age groups); age grouped and sex; highest educational attainment; political orientation (Republican, Democrat, Independent, something else); Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin; ethnicity; born in the US (migration background); religion or denomination; own turnout in the 2020 presidential election; voting behavior in the 2020 presidential election.