WEBVTT - USAFacts President on Integrity in the Election 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.280 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.320 Is indeed, this is Bloomberg Business Week on this Monday. 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.360 Looking forward to our next guest. Heads Up USA Facts, 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.159 which made its debut about three years ago. Created by 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.560 former Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer, it was all about gathering 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:20.880 and distributing government facts. The site doesn't make judgments, We've 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.560 said this before, doesn't prescribe policies. It's really just the 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.560 facts based on government data. So great to welcome back 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.960 Poppy McDonald. She's president of the not for profit and 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.479 nonpartisan USA Facts, also a former president and chief operating 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.960 officer of the news site Politico. She joins us on 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.559 this Monday on the phone in Hawaii. Hi, Poppy, how 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.920 are you, Hi, Carol. I'm doing well. It's so nice 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:44.720 to be back with you. Well, it's great to have 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.000 you back with us. Um I've got to first ask 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.520 you Hawaii virus. Their cases I believe have been going down, 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.120 if I'm correct, is that right? You are right? They 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.280 have had very few cases going down dramatically. They really 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.960 did choose to close their state to visitors and it 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.039 had an outsized impact in terms of the devastation to 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:10.920 Hawaii's economy. When USA Facts did analysis looking at her case, 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.280 what was the job lost impact? Hawaii was the hardest 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.800 hit and in September and the state had lost about 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.680 ten thousand seven jobs and hit high of fifteen point 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.640 one percent unemployment, as most of the rest of the 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.720 country was coming. Um really reducing unemployment and that impact, 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.760 and that was because of their reliance on leisure and 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.280 the hospitality sector. So they reopened for the first time 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.440 in mid October. And UM, are you know, we'll be 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:41.760 following the data to see what happens there. Yeah, it's 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:43.679 really fascinating. I love that you went right to the facts. 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.360 You know, it's interesting. Um, I know we talked with you. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.080 I think in early October. It was about a month 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.800 out from the election. Um, facts do matter. We know that, 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:53.560 and I want to do a deeper dive into that 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.640 in just a moment. But you know, what's kind of 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.840 changed in your world as you look at you know 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.080 what people are searching on when it comes to USA Facts, 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.520 what they want to know, especially as we've gotten closer 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.520 to the election, and we've seen certainly the races and 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.519 individual states get closer the polling is showing us that 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.440 the race is much closer in a lot of places. 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.160 So I'm curious what what are people what do they 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.400 want to know as we get, you know, closer to 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:25.520 this election now that it's tomorrow, Thanks Carol. According to 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.680 data just in from my team at USA Facts, as 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.799 the election is looming, no surprising, you know, COVID related 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.880 terms continued to dominate the search for both candidate policy 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.320 information as well as on our site in terms of 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.360 how many people have been diagnosed and how many deaths. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.440 I think interesting though, um, if we look at what 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.760 else are people searching for? Related for sure is what 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.000 are the top causes of death in the United States? 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.399 And there is certainly some conversation about how devastating has 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.359 COVID and um, is it just like the flu or 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.000 is it having an outside impact? And so we did 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.480 analysis looking at between February and October, what were the 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.480 top causes its death in the United States. COVID comes 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.360 in third. Um it's We're now at about two hundred 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.359 and twenty eight thousand cases. Heart disease is at four 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.880 hundred and eighty thousand, three ninety cancer at four hundred 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.000 and twenty six thousand, one hundred seventy two UM and 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.400 behind COVID then is stroke at a hundred and ten 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:32.360 thousand and flew. It's down at the seventh pause thirty 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.120 eight thousand, one d seventy one cases. So um, that's 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.840 a place Americans are going. They're also looking, I think, 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.600 at um, what does there look life look like as 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.080 middle class Americans. So our second most traffic content is 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.200 how much does the average American family pay in Texas? 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.480 And so we have analysis looking at in twenty eight 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.840 teen the African American family in the middle of income 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:01.000 earners and we define that as literally the middle in 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.560 this country, which looks like on average people who make 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:08.480 about fifty dollars a year and they have paid about 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:13.960 fifteen thousand, seven dty dollars in taxes, and that's combining federal, state, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.040 and local taxes UM. And then in general just in 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:23.200 federal taxes about two thousands, three nine two. So um, 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.240 those are really the talk to. And then of course 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.520 people are looking at voting rates, what's turnout then how 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.960 many people vote by mail? So really related to the 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.680 topic of the moment, right, which is the selection. I 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.560 think that's really interesting about kind of wanting to understand 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:42.880 like how much people are paying in taxes, and I wonder. 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.440 You know, it's interesting, right, you've seen this before, you 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.120 you know, Ran Politico. You know we've talked about in 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.240 elections before that it was all about the economy, right, 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.080 it's the economy stupid. Go back to the Clinton, uh 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.840 you know campaign, although I've heard other people say I 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.280 think it was our Michael mckeeth it's saying it's it's 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.360 all about COVID stupid, like you know. So it's interesting 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.160 to see what people are searching on to give you 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.840 an idea of what really matters as we go into 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:10.920 the election. And maybe some of it has to do with, 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.560 you know, everybody's individual and personal experiences, but it it 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.240 kind of tells us a little bit what's going on 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.400 in the psyche right of voters. Absolutely, and you would 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.640 think that jobs and economy are always the dominant theme. 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.960 I think immigration was something that was a hot topic, right, 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.240 but has really been replaced by healthcare and people dominantly 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.400 thinking about m M. My space is my family's safe 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:38.080 and you know who's looking out for me right now? Poppy? 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.159 Whatever happened? Um? And I bring this up because I 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.600 was watching and listening to a piece over the weekend 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:48.080 and just said, you know that we've become a society 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.240 that it feels like facts don't matter anymore, and and 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.600 it feels like I think, uh. One person who's interviewed 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:56.920 was said something like, well, facts are boring. It's not 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:01.440 what gets the algorithms moving on social media, um, which 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.120 of course plays into how you make money on a 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.480 lot of social media platforms. I mean, you ran political, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.919 you know the importance of understanding sources and facts. What's 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.279 happened over the past decade when it comes to the 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:21.719 respect that facts used to Garner Carol, that's a great question, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.680 and I wish I had all the answers. I do 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:31.080 think it is entertainment when you're throwing around adjectives and um, 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.000 big headlines right um, and you're going to get um. 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.800 It's become an engaging format that is entertaining to Americans 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.719 that said um, USA facts did some pulling to say, like, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.360 do Americans even care about the facts? Um? Is it 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.400 important to them? And we did find that, you know, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:52.480 eight antient Americans said that the spread of information has 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:59.279 become a major problem and report often or always getting 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.839 conflicting and formations from different sources, and sixty seven percent 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.440 of Americans say that they often are always come across 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.280 sources that only include one side of a debate. And 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.200 so you know, part of why USA facts exist, as 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:16.400 we do think Americans are hungry to understand what where 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:20.280 do things actually stand by the numbers. Sure adjectives are entertaining, 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.800 but at the end of the day, it is confusing 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.000 when you're getting conflicting reports from two different sources. And 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:28.960 let's ground it back in data so it us say 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.320 facts or we try to make it really easy for 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.560 Americans or the media or politicians to go and at 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.720 least start debate with the facts and then hopefully have 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.360 a healthy disagreement about how we move forward. You know, 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.840 I've remember going to start as a journalist, Like I 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.720 thought it was very interesting that you could often yes 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:48.760 facts or facts, but you could often find a set 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.560 of statistics to tell your story. And I think it 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.160 was a little mind blowing to me initially, Like, okay, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.840 and this is where you have to be really smart 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.280 and really understand where the material was coming from so 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.840 that you knew whether it was going to be not tainted, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.720 but it was going to be subjective because of where 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:10.920 it was coming from. Yeah, we do, UM ask and journalists, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.920 but especially Americans to go to a lot of work 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.400 to understand is that source um, that I'm reading? Is 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.960 it objective? Art? Is there? Is it coming from like 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.920 a good place? Um? And so you know understand that 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.600 people are confused right now. We have forty percent of 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.200 Americans say it's difficult to know if a candidates telling 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.959 the truth UM. And that forty percent of Americans say 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.560 they do pay close attention, but they're often unsure where 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.440 to go for information they trust. UM. And I think 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:43.400 probably not surprising. When we looked at twenty nineteen, what 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.800 was the dominant source of daily news information? UM, A 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.600 majority of Americans said social media. That's dropped about thirty 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.280 two percent UM, with only thirty seven percent of people 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.800 saying that they use socialist social media daily and only 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.480 seven percent of those saying they actually us that is 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.360 a source of information. Wow. Wait, so it's dropping in 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.720 terms of what people are going there or not dropping 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.200 it is. Yeah, it's dropping. So in nineteen and majority 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.520 of Americans said and that was the top source they 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.800 went to social media almost daily. It's now down. When 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.920 we did the pole this share. A year later, seven 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.559 percent of people say they're using it daily and only 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.800 seven percent of people say they trust social media. That's 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.000 really interesting. I do wonder them when you think about 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.559 social media folks, you know, the CEO is being called 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.120 before Congress or before Senate committees, and you know their 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:38.959 responsibility to kind of police their platforms. I mean, I 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.880 wonder if you have some thoughts on that, especially since 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.360 it's interesting to see less people getting it, but still 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.520 a lot of people go to social media to get 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:50.800 their news. It is still the third most used source, 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.520 so it is still a place people are going to 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.840 for information, just behind local TV news and national TV 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:00.800 news networks as well as cable, so it's actually the 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.800 fourth must use source. UM And in terms of you know, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.800 what's the responsibility of these folks to run social media platforms? 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.360 I mean, I think if you see trust down to 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.120 seven percent, and that's the lowest rating that we found 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.560 in terms of trust um highest being of people who 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.600 say they trust local TV news. When you look at 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.520 that gap, you have to wonder for the viability of 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.240 these platforms, UM. Are there measures that they need to 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.400 take to ensure that they don't continue to decline as 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.840 a way as the source that people go to to 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.600 get information. Hey, Poppy, just got about a minute left here. 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.199 What are you gonna be looking for after the elections? 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:42.880 And I mean there's a lot of assumption that we 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.760 may or may not have uh an answer come at 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.360 the end of Tuesday night. But in terms of searches 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.320 on the site, what kind of trends are you going 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.920 to be looking for? And just got about forty seconds here. Well, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.360 for sure, we're going to be following voting rates, so 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.800 we are at fifty was the latest turn out an election? 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:06.880 Does that increase? And what happens with mail voting intent 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.640 of ballots were cast by mail? We're expecting that's going 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.680 to tack up, and so we'll be looking at, um, 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.280 what did participation look like by the numbers UM, as 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.400 well as tracking with our Voters Center, UM, where did 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.280 people turn out to vote? And how did that compare 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.400 to the candidates that we were seeing really get access 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.080 on our platform? Is volume up on the platform just quickly? Absolutely? 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.520 We're up two thousand percent to here in terms of 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.280 traffic coming to go a see facts dot org. WHOA okay, um, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:37.959 great to check in with you Poppy, thank you so much, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:42.200 a lot of data there and really informative. And again, 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.360 facts matter, folks, and they are dealing with, you know, 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.080 government facts and just pulling it together on really these 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.199 major issues. Pappa McDonald, President of USA Facts, joining us 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:53.560 on the phone from Hawaii.