Younger adults better able than their elders to correctly classify factual and opinion statements that appeal to the left and right % ofus. adults in each age group who correctly classified seach statement as factual or opinion Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make uu the largest portion of the U.S federal budget* Immigrants who are in the U.S illegally have some rights President Barack Obama was born in the United states* Health care costs per person in the U.S are the highest
Among the opinion statements, roughly three-quarters of 18- to 49-year-olds (77%) correctly identified the following opinion statement, one that appeals more to the ideological right – “Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient” – compared with about two-thirds of older Americans (65%). And younger Americans were slightly more likely than older adults (82% vs. 78%, respectively) to correctly categorize this opinion statement, one appealing more to the left: “Abortion should be legal in most cases.”
Younger adults better able than their elders to correctly classify factual and opinion  | statements that appeal to the left and right  | % ofus. adults in each age group who correctly classified seach statement as factual or opinion  | Factual statements  | Opinion statements  | Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid  | Democracy is the greatest form of government*  | make uu the largest portion of the U.S federal budget*  | 18-49  | 76%  | 18-49  | 63%  | 50+  | 50+  | 61  | 51  | Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are a very big  | Immigrants who are in the U.S illegally have some rights  | problem for the country today*  | under the Constitution*  | 18-49  | 18-49  | 74  | 60  | 50+  | 50+  | 48  | 61  | President Barack Obama was born in the United states*  | Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient*  | 18-49  | 18-49  | 79  | 50+  | 50+  | 74  | 65  | Health care costs per person in the U.S are the highest  | Abortion should be legal in most cases*  | in the developed world  | 18-49  | 18-49  | 76  | 82  | 50+  | 50+  | 75  | 78  | Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is  | ISIS lost a significant portion of its territory in Iraq and  | essential for the health of the U.S. economy  | Syria in 2017  | 18-49  | 18-49  | 68  | 73  | 50+  | 68  | 50+  | 73  | *Indicates that 18 to 49-year-olds were statistically more likely to correctly classify the statement than those 50+.  | Note: Skipping a statement was counted as not correctly identifying it as factual or as opinion.  | Source: Skipping Survey conducted Feb 22 March 4. 2018. correctly  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 