AP-NORC/USAFacts Poll: Facts missing from American democracy

NICHOLAS RICCARDI and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — At a time when many Americans say they're struggling to distinguish between fact and fiction, the country is broadly skeptical that facts underlie some of the basic mechanisms of democracy in the United States — from political campaigns to voting choices to the policy decisions made by elected officials. A meager 9% of Americans believe that campaign messages are usually based on facts, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research and USAFacts. Only 14% think policy decisions are often or always fact-based, or that Americans' voting decisions are rooted in facts. Reporting by journalists scores slightly better with the public, but not by much: the survey found that on