Nearly 6 in 10 Americans now know alcohol raises cancer risk, survey finds

Nearly six in ten Americans now recognize that regularly consuming alcohol increases the chances of later developing cancer, according to a nationally representative survey conducted in October by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania. The survey found that 58 percent of U.S. adults know about the alcohol-cancer connection, a statistically significant increase of five percentage points since February 2026.

The rebound brings public knowledge roughly back to where it stood in February 2025, when 56 percent of Americans recognized the link. That earlier measurement came one month after the Biden administration’s surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory on the causal link between alcohol consumption and at least seven types of cancer. Compared with September 2024, when APPC first asked the question, the current level of knowledge stands 18 percentage points higher.

The findings come from the latest wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) survey, Wave 31, conducted for APPC from September 22 to October 5, 2026, among 1,842 U.S. adults by SSRS, an independent research company. Interviews were carried out by web and telephone among a nationally representative probability sample drawn from the SSRS Opinion Panel, with the data weighted to represent the U.S. adult population. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

The survey was fielded shortly after new research drew substantial media attention. In September 2026, researchers at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine published data showing that even moderate and small amounts of alcohol increased the risk of cancer. Drawing on those data, headlines informed the public that alcohol-related cancer deaths in the United States have more than doubled over three decades.

Laura A. Gibson, an APPC research analyst, cautioned that it is not possible to draw a direct link between news coverage of the Miami study or the surgeon general’s warning and the growth in knowledge about alcohol and cancer. Even so, she noted that ongoing media coverage plays an important role in amplifying the general public’s awareness of health risks.

Despite the improvement, a substantial share of the public remains unaware of the risk. More than four in ten Americans, 42 percent, do not recognize that regularly consuming alcohol increases cancer risk. Nearly a quarter of adults, 24 percent, say they are not sure whether drinking alcohol affects their chances of developing cancer, and 17 percent incorrectly believe that alcohol consumption has no effect on cancer risk.

The policy environment surrounding alcohol and cancer messaging has shifted in recent years. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Unlike the prior guidelines, which explicitly warned about the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer, the revised guidelines did not mention cancer risk, although they advised limiting alcoholic beverages for better health.

APPC has been tracking Americans’ knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors regarding vaccination, Covid-19, flu, RSV, and other consequential health issues through its ASAPH survey and other national samples since April 2021. The survey team includes Gibson along with Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research; Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, which oversees the survey; research analyst Shawn Patterson Jr.; and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, APPC’s director emerita.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center, established in 1993, works to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels.

Subject of Research: Public awareness in the United States of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk

Article Title: Public knowledge that alcohol causes cancer rebounds

Article References: Public knowledge that alcohol causes cancer rebounds. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

Image Credits: AI Generated

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Keywords: alcohol, cancer risk, public health survey, Annenberg Public Policy Center, health communication, surgeon general advisory, dietary guidelines, ASAPH survey, U.S. adults, risk perception, Public, knowledge