Rural residents are more likely to doubt Covid-19 science

CSP graph, with place-type rates highlighted; to enlarge, click on it.

Residents of the rural United States are more likely than other Americans to doubt scientifically proven statements about the coronavirus, says an online poll by the Covid States Project, a consortium of Northeastern University, Harvard University and its medical school, Rutgers University and Northwestern University.

People in the poll were asked to identify vaccine misinformation statements as true or false, and were given the option of "not sure." They were later asked if they thought most scientists or health experts would consider the statements true or false. If they said "not sure" about a statement but thought experts would support it, they were counted as doubting science. If they said a statement was true but experts would say it was false, they were counted as disbelieving science.

Among rural residents, 25% doubted at least one of the misinformation statements; in suburbs, that figure was 21%, and in cities, 20%. The "disbelieving" results differed little by type of area.

The poll surveyed 18,782 people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with state-level quotas. The results were weighted to reflect demographic characteristics: race/ethnicity, age, gender, education, and living in urban, suburban, or rural areas. The researchers reported that they found a decline in belief of misinformation since early 2021, when Covid-19 vaccines became widely available, but "16 percent of Americans still hold vaccine misperceptions. Close to half (46%) are uncertain about the veracity of at least one vaccine misinformation statement."