One Third of Americans Believe Russian Disinformation, NewsGuard-YouGov Survey Finds

A national survey found Americans are duped at alarming rates by Kremlin disinformation claims — and widely believe false claims across other topics

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In the ongoing battle between fiction and reality, fiction — much of it created by Russia’s robust disinformation machine — appears to be winning.

A national YouGov survey commissioned by NewsGuard found that one third of Americans believe at least one false claim being spread by Russian media outlets.

The survey, conducted on a representative sample of 1,000 Americans, presented respondents with 10 false claims that have spread widely online, including three that originated from or were primarily spread by Russian media outlets. Respondents were asked to identify whether each claim was true, false, or whether they were unsure about its veracity.

The false claims were selected from NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprints, a continuously updated data stream of provably false claims spreading online.

The survey found that Americans believe Kremlin disinformation at an alarming rate and are unable to consistently identify Russian disinformation claims as false.

The results also show that Americans are widely vulnerable to believing falsehoods spread online across a range of topics including health and medicine, elections, and international conflicts: Of the 10 claims presented, 78 percent of respondents believed at least one claim, and less than 1 percent of respondents correctly identified all 10 claims as false.

From Russia with Lies: Americans Duped by Kremlin Disinformation

Survey respondents were presented with three false claims that originated or were primarily spread by Russian state media outlets.

One third (33.9 percent) believed that at least one of the claims was true. Less than one quarter (23.8 percent) of respondents were able to correctly identify all three Russian disinformation narratives as false.

For example, 61 percent of respondents were unable to identify as false the claim that “between 30-50% of U.S. aid money provided to Ukraine has been stolen by Ukrainian officials for personal use.” One in four respondents believed the claim, which originated in an article by the Russian state media outlet RT (formerly Russia Today) and was spread by other state-controlled sources, to be true. For NewsGuard’s detailed debunk of this claim, click here.

A similar proportion of respondents (64 percent) were unable to identify as false the claim, spread by Russian state media outlets RT, TASS, RIA Novosti, and Ukraina.ru, that “Ukraine President Zelensky's approval rating is down to 4%.” Nearly one in five Americans identified the claim as true. In fact, no such poll has been released and recent polls showed Zelensky polling between 57 and 63 percent. For NewsGuard’s detailed debunk of this claim, click here.

Fewer than half of respondents (44 percent) correctly identified as false the claim that “Ukraine sold Hamas weapons that were donated to Ukraine by the United States.” This disinformation originated from an unverified social media video and was amplified by senior officials in Russia including Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The claim was then widely reported on Russian state media outlets, including Sputnik Africa,Sputnik India, RT, and Ukraina.ru, as well as pro-Kremlin site TopWar.ru and some U.S.-based sites. For NewsGuard’s detailed debunk of this claim, click here.

Russian disinformation efforts targeting Americans have continued to accelerate and become increasingly sophisticated in recent years. NewsGuard’s analysts have cataloged nearly 300 false claims spread by the Kremlin about the war in Ukraine, and recently uncovered how a Russian-operated network of websites has infected American AI tools, including the most commonly used chatbots, with Kremlin propaganda claims.

Disinformation Nation: Americans Widely Believe False Claims on a Range of Topics

The survey questioned respondents on false claims across a range of topics, beyond Russian disinformation. Once again, the results showed widespread belief in false claims.

For example, fewer than half of respondents correctly identified as false the claim that COVID-19 vaccines have killed between 7.3 and 15 million people worldwide, while one in five respondents believed the claim to be true. Data from health agencies and peer-reviewed studies show that approved COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. For a detailed debunk of this claim, click here.

Respondents also widely believed false claims related to the 2024 presidential election: Only 13 percent of respondents were able to correctly identify as false the claim that Project 2025, a plan written by a conservative think tank that became a flashpoint during the election, explicitly calls for cuts in Social Security. (In fact, the document does not mention Social Security at all. For a detailed debunk of this claim, click here.)

Nearly half (45 percent) of respondents could not correctly identify as false the claim that Starlink, an internet company owned by Elon Musk, was used to rig the 2024 election for Donald Trump. A similar proportion (45 percent) could not identify as false the claim that Haitian immigrants stole, killed, and ate pets in Springfield, Ohio. A similar percentage of users identified the Starlink claim to be true (14.3 percent) as did the claim about Haitians eating pets (15.6 percent). For detailed debunks of these claims, click here and here.

Belief in False Claims Cuts Across Party Lines

In a politically divided nation, belief in misinformation is one characteristic Americans across the political spectrum have in common.

Respondents identifying as Democrats were about as likely (82 percent) to believe at least one of the 10 false claims as those identifying as Republicans (81 percent). Non-party identifying respondents were slightly less likely to believe misinformation, with 72 percent identifying at least one false claim as true.

However, Republicans were more likely to believe Russian disinformation claims than their Democratic counterparts. Of Republicans, 57.6 percent identified at least one Russian disinformation claim as true compared to 17.9 percent of Democrats and 29.5 percent of respondents not identifying a party.

Methodology

NewsGuard commissioned a February-March 2025 study with YouGov that polled a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans aged 18+. The survey was carried out online and prompted respondents with 10 statements conveying false claims spreading online. Respondents were asked to reply to each claim with a response of “True,” “False,” or “Not Sure.”

After completing the survey, respondents were presented with accurate information debunking each claim to ensure that the survey did not inadvertently advance misinformation.

Click here for a list of the 10 false claims used and debunks of each claim.

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