Poll shows older Americans are worse at differentiating facts from opinions than younger people

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  • Americans over the age of 50 are worse at differentiating facts from opinions than younger ones, according to findings from a Pew Research Center study.
  • Researchers gave participants ten statements, five of which were facts, and five others that were opinions. The results showed that 32% of the people aged 18 to 49 who were surveyed correctly identified factual statements as facts. Just 20% of respondents aged 50 and older correctly identified the factual statements.
  • When given a list of opinion statements, 44% of those in the 18 to 49 age group correctly identified the opinions, while only 26% of those aged 50 and older did so. Skipping a statement counted as incorrectly identifying the fact or opinion.
  • The revelations from this study are consequential for multiple reasons, including that millennials, classified as people born between 1980 and 2000, currently outnumber baby boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964.
  • Next year, the number of millennials who are old enough to vote is expected to surpass that of baby boomers as well.

Americans over the age of 50 are worse at differentiating facts from opinions than younger ones, according to findings from a Pew Research Center study.

Researchers gave participants ten statements, five of which were facts, and five others that were opinions.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Martin is an enthusiastic programmer, a webdeveloper and a young entrepreneur. He is intereted into computers for a long time. In the age of 10 he has programmed his first website and since then he has been working on web technologies until now. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BriefNews.eu and PCHealthBoost.info Online Magazines. His colleagues appreciate him as a passionate workhorse, a fan of new technologies, an eternal optimist and a dreamer, but especially the soul of the team for whom he can do anything in the world.

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