Could Watching Fox News Be Hazardous to your Intelligence?
Reported by Melanie - October 22, 2004 -
Here is a very interesting study released yesterday by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). PIPA is a joint program of the Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland.
The report, titled, Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD or Major Program, Supported al Qaeda, details misconceptions Bush supporters have on a wide range of issues. In many cases his supporters favor policies which Bush strongly opposes, but Kerry favors.
Here's an excerpt:
"The roots of the Bush supporters' resistance to information," according to Steven Kull, "very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11 and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. This appears to have created a powerful bond between Bush and his supporters--and an idealized image of the President that makes it difficult for his supporters to imagine that he could have made incorrect judgments before the war, that world public opinion could be critical of his policies or that the President could hold foreign policy positions that are at odds with his supporters."
And:
Similarly, 57% of Bush supporters assume that the majority of people in the world would favor Bush's reelection; 33% assumed that views are evenly divided and only 9% assumed that Kerry would be preferred. A recent poll by GlobeScan and PIPA of 35 of the major countries around the world found that in 30, a majority or plurality favored Kerry, while in just 3 Bush was favored. On average, Kerry was preferred more than two to one.
COMMENT: Since many Republicans obtain their "news" from Fox News, one wonders how much that contributes to this fundamental lack of knowledge.
