The present study surveyed 970 Americans during the first two weeks of May 2020 to explore the science communication environment and the factors related to COVID-19 risk assessment and compliance with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 mitigation strategies. We asked respondents about the media sources used to seek information about the COVID-19 pandemic, their political identity, and general level of scientific intelligence as well as their COVID-19 specific intelligence. Controlling for demographic factors and ordinary science knowledge, we demonstrated that ordinary science COVID-19 intelligence, risk assessment, and mainstream media use were positively related to compliance with CDC guidelines for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Democrats’ risk perception remained at a significantly higher level than Republicans, regardless of whether they tuned in to liberal sources, conservative sources, or conservative radio/podcast shows. All media sources used for seeking COVID-19 information significantly boosted Republican-leaners’ risk perception level but that level of risk assessment never reached that of the Democrats in the sample. Independent voters decreased their compliance when using liberal media and increased their compliance when using conservative media, rejecting the more extreme positions of these media. Even occasionally listening to conservative radio/podcasts significantly decreased Democratic compliance with the public health guidelines. From the beginning of the pandemic, a polluted science communication environment was exacerbated by polarized media discussions of COVID-19, making it difficult for the public to recognize valid science, assess risk and follow scientifically based disease mitigation strategies.

本研究在 2020 年 5 月的前两周对 970 名美国人进行了调查，以探索科学传播环境以及与 COVID-19 风险评估和遵守疾病控制中心 (CDC) COVID-19 缓解策略相关的因素。我们向受访者询问了用于寻求有关 COVID-19 大流行信息的媒体来源、他们的政治身份、科学情报的一般水平以及他们的 COVID-19 特定情报。在控制人口因素和普通科学知识的情况下，我们证明了普通科学 COVID-19 情报、风险评估和主流媒体的使用与遵守 CDC 针对共和党、民主党和独立人士的指南呈正相关。民主党人的风险认知仍明显高于共和党人，无论他们收听的是自由派、保守派还是保守派广播/播客节目。用于寻求 COVID-19 信息的所有媒体来源都显着提高了共和党倾向者的风险认知水平，但风险评估水平从未达到样本中民主党的水平。独立选民在使用自由派媒体时降低了他们的依从性，而在使用保守派媒体时增加了他们的依从性，拒绝了这些媒体更极端的立场。即使偶尔听保守派广播/播客也会显着降低民主党对公共卫生准则的遵守程度。自疫情爆发以来，媒体对COVID-19的两极分化讨论加剧了科学传播环境的污染，使公众难以认可有效的科学，