Weekly Insights: Global COVID-19 Aid

From the United States’ global COVID-19 aid to harmful social media platforms, here are this week’s top college student insights.

Global COVID-19 Aid

A new survey of 600 undergraduates finds that a majority (66%) believe the U.S. should play a strong role in sending medical supplies to other countries battling COVID-19 outbreaks, while 16% disagree and 18% are not sure. What’s more, an overwhelming majority (88%) of students say the U.S. should send extra vaccines to poorer countries once it has enough vaccines for every citizen.

Despite an ideological divide about America’s role abroad, college Democrats and Republicans are largely in agreement about sharing extra vaccines. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say the U.S. should play a role in sending medical supplies abroad (82% vs. 39%), but only slightly more likely than Republicans to support sending vaccines to poorer countries (94% vs. 82%).

Percentage of students who support the following.

National Armed Forces Day

On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), only one-quarter (27%) of students rate their pride in the U.S. Armed Forces as a 4 or 5. By comparison, 3 in 10 (30%) rate their pride in the middle at a 3, and 4 in 10 (41%) on the lower end at a 1 or 2. Republican students are almost five times as likely as Democratic students to rate their pride in the U.S. military at the top end with a 4 or 5 (68% vs. 14%).

Facebook

Students believe Facebook is more harmful to society than other social media platforms, but female students are more likely than male students to say Instagram causes the most harm. A recent survey of 940 students finds that about 4 in 10 (43%) say Facebook is more harmful to society than other apps, compared to 2 in 10 (22%) who choose Instagram or TikTok (19%). However, female students are twice as likely as their male classmates to say Instagram is the most harmful (30% vs. 14%).

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Methodology: All surveys were designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted among a sample of full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.