Research/Report

The Dangers of Low Literacy for American Democracy: The Promising Role of Public Institutions as Community Conveners

Winter 2025

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Digital Literacy

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Author(s): Kristy Roschke and Tara Bartlett, Arizona State University

For nearly a decade, concerns about misinformation influencing U.S. elections have grown. As modern elections are increasingly characterized by overwhelming amounts of information, trust in the media is at an all-time low, with people across the political spectrum reporting low confidence in the mass media’s ability to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly.” Voters with high literacy can struggle to make sense of information online, and those with lower literacy may face even greater challenges. To prepare people to discern credible political information and make informed choices, we must find more opportunities to incorporate digital media literacy into basic adult literacy training.

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