PIPA Report: Bush Supporters Hold False Beliefs
Reported by Marie Therese - October 23, 2004 -
The latest Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) report shows startling results, unless you've spent the last ten months of your life monitoring the FOX News Network as we have. The report reveals that even now, after overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the report finds that Bush supporters "still believe Iraq had WMD or a major weapons program, actively supported al Qaeda and misperceive world public as not opposed to Iraq War. In addition, they AGREE with most Kerry supporters that the Bush administration is still saying that Saddam Hussein had links to Al Qaeda and had WMDs. Amazingly, the average Bush supporter believes that the US should NOT have gone to war if there was no evidence of WMD or links to Al Qaeda.
(Begin excerpt.) Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.
Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.
Later in the article:
Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments, "One of the reasons that Bush supporters have these beliefs is that they perceive the Bush administration confirming them. Interestingly, this is one point on which Bush and Kerry supporters agree." Eighty-two percent of Bush supporters perceive the Bush administration as saying that Iraq had WMD (63%) or that Iraq had a major WMD program (19%). Likewise, 75% say that the Bush administration is saying Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda. Equally large majorities of Kerry supporters hear the Bush administration expressing these views--73% say the Bush administration is saying Iraq had WMD (11% a major program) and 74% that Iraq was substantially supporting al Qaeda.
Steven Kull adds, "Another reason that Bush supporters may hold to these beliefs is that they have not accepted the idea that it does not matter whether Iraq had WMD or supported al Qaeda. Here too they are in agreement with Kerry supporters."
Later:
This tendency of Bush supporters to ignore dissonant information extends to other realms as well. Despite an abundance of evidence--including polls conducted by Gallup International in 38 countries, and more recently by a consortium of leading newspapers in 10 major countries--only 31% of Bush supporters recognize that the majority of people in the world oppose the US having gone to war with Iraq. Forty-two percent assume that views are evenly divided, and 26% assume that the majority approves. Among Kerry supporters, 74% assume that the majority of the world is opposed.
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.
Later:
Bush supporters also have numerous misperceptions about Bush's international policy positions. Majorities incorrectly assume that Bush supports multilateral approaches to various international issues--the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (69%), the treaty banning land mines (72%)--and for addressing the problem of global warming: 51% incorrectly assume he favors US participation in the Kyoto treaty. After he denounced the International Criminal Court in the debates, the perception that he favored it dropped from 66%, but still 53% continue to believe that he favors it. An overwhelming 74% incorrectly assumes that he favors including labor and environmental standards in trade agreements. In all these cases, majorities of Bush supporters favor the positions they impute to Bush. Kerry supporters are much more accurate in their perceptions of his positions on these issues.
"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."
The polls were conducted October 12-18 and September 3-7 and 8-12 with samples of 968, 798 and 959 respondents, respectively. Margins of error were 3.2 to 4% in the first and third surveys and 3.5% on September 3-7. The poll was fielded by Knowledge Networks using its nationwide panel, which is randomly selected from the entire adult population and subsequently provided internet access. (End of excerpt.)
Comment
1) FOX as recently as Thursday has a guest on The O'Reilly Factor, Frank Gaffney, who claimed that we still don't know where those pesky WMDs have gone, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
2) Although occasionally FOX News "reports" that the Europeans dislike America because of the War on Iraq, they far more often assign the blame for this hatred to France, the United Nations (which they tend to treat as an alien entity that somehow exists in a vacuum and does not function in the real world) and/or a catch-all group of viciously anti-American factions, alternately referred to as the "lunatic fringe," "terrorists,", "elite media," "immigrants," etc. As recently as yesterday, O'Reilly expanded the terrorist list to include al Jazeera. Right now on one of the morning finance shows, they are referring to the United nations as a supporter of terrorism. None of their coverage has breathed a hint that there are five American oil companies and two prominent American citizens also involved in Oil-for-Food. I've only seen one reference to this, and it was by a guest billed as a "Democratic" apologist. FOX personalities constantly refer to "Coalition forces" and take every opportunity to pump up the status of those countries that still support us. They downplay or insult those countries who have left the coalition.
3) FOX disses the Democrats and liberals so freely and so often that they pre-innoculate their loyal viewers against anything these pundits might have to say. Would you believe people who are "pinheads"?
4) Happy Iraq is still being touted, in spite of the evidence and testimony to the contrary. For example, they report this morning on the tremendous success of the arms buy-back program in Sadr City!
The PIPA report didn't surprise any of the News Hounds in the least.
As I finish writing this, FOX is broadcasting a Bush stump speech. Guess what our Fearless Leader is saying and I quote: "Saddam was a state sponsor of terror."
"When you don't like the message, shoot the messenger" seems to be the Bush philosophy.
