2021 Disinformation Survey
Our foundational research and evidence in the field has led us to believe that white women are a significant target of bad actors (both foreign and domestic) who are seeking to use disinformation to foment division, destabilize democracy, and erode support for pro-social policies. Galvanize Action commissioned a study from GQR aimed to deeply understand which white women are more likely to believe disinformation, where they get their information, and what types of disinformation they are more likely to believe.
This memo includes findings from a survey (conducted by GQR) of 1,500 white women registered voters, 300 each from GA, MI, NC, PA, and WI (July 2-11, 2021).
Regardless of partisanship, most respondents are worried about the country’s direction—61% of total respondents believe things have gotten seriously off track. This concern is primarily directed at progressives, with a 54% majority of respondents saying that the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left. Frequency of exposure to disinformation is strongly correlated with voting for Trump/Republicans and believing the narratives to be true. Those who have seen “a lot” of four or more of these narratives are disproportionately Republican [54%], 2020 Trump voters [65%], and plan to vote Republican in 2022 [67%].
Platforms used, more than time spent online, points to susceptibility to right-wing disinformation—more moderate users remain widely aware of right-wing narratives. Those who spend time daily on three or more platforms lean more progressive and are less susceptible to right-wing disinformation, while those spending the same amount of time on only 1-2 platforms (primarily Facebook) are more conservative, more susceptible to these narratives, and seek out more political accounts to follow.
COVID is the leading disinformation narrative both in frequency of posts and engagement in state-based political Facebook groups, which proliferated in 2020 and are especially popular with suburban women. No other topic has driven such a broad range of right-wing narratives on social media. Forty-one percent of all political posts in a selection of over 100 state-based Facebook groups are COVID-related—followed much further behind by Pro-Trump [18%], Race [6%], and Anti-Biden [6%] posts. Engagement is also higher on COVID posts than other topics [22 average likes per post]. Much of the content promoting vaccine hesitancy is coming from spaces discussing politics more broadly, which can create onramps to other narratives including pro-Trump, anti-abortion, and anti-mainstream media.
White women in suburban areas are disproportionately aware of right-wing narratives related to critical race theory [+5pp], white privilege [+4pp], and cancel culture [+3pp]. Additionally, white women voters who live in suburban counties are more engaged in Facebook Groups [20% of those on Facebook belong to local groups] than those in other areas—a prominent source of mis- and disinformation (Axios 2021).
