Viewers of conservative cable news outlets have a better understanding of the death risk of COVID-19 than those who watch liberal cable news outlets — with Newsmax viewers more aware than those of other conservative channels or the general population, a new poll showed Friday.
The conservative Rasmussen Reports survey also found more Newsmax viewers are likely to think officials aren’t being honest about the COVID-19 vaccines.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. COVID-19 case-mortality rate — the percentage of diagnosed patients who have died from the disease — is 1.6%.
The Rasmussen Reports survey found 30% of U.S. adults correctly estimate the rate as being less than 2%; 20% think it’s between 2% and 5%; 17% believe it’s in the 5%-10% range; and 19% think it’s more than 10%.
The survey found 40% of Newsmax viewers correctly estimated the mortality rate, as did 34% of Fox News viewers, and 21% of One America News watchers.
The survey found 22% of CNN viewers and 24% of MSNBC viewers correctly estimated the mortality rate.
Among Americans who say they don’t watch cable news at all, 38% correctly estimated the mortality rate, the survey showed.
The survey also found that:
- 37% of all adults believe public health officials are lying about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, while 44% disagree and 19% aren’t sure.
- 62% of Newsmax viewers think public health officials are lying about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, as do 60% of OAN viewers, 49% of Fox News viewers, 26% of CNN viewers, and 25% of MSNBC viewers.
- 24% of Democrats say they most often watch CNN; 23% of Democrats are MSNBC viewers.
- 37% of Republicans watch Fox News, 14% watch Newsmax.
- 18% of independents watch Fox, 12% watch CNN.
- 28% of Democrats think more than 10% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 have died from the disease, as did 14% of Republicans and 10% of independents.
- 53% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats, and 35% of independents think public health officials are lying about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
The telephone and online survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.