A Fox News poll is out about the IRS so-called scandal today. But it asks a question that assumes its respondents are of a mindset with Fox News viewers when it suggestively asks, “Which of the following scandals currently facing the Obama administration concerns you the most?” It goes on to list Fox’s favorite three, in language that Roger Ailes might have written.
Here’s the poll question:
Notice that being concerned is a given, the only question is which one “concerns you the most.” The question also assumes that the IRS targeted conservative groups when, in fact, the IRS was screening for political groups via terms such as “patriot” and “tea party” when considering whether to approve 501©4 requests. As the Los Angeles Times noted, “It turns out that none of the ‘targeted’ groups actually was denied C4 status.”
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that “none of the above” is not listed as an option to be read as a choice. And that all the scandals are the ones being hyped by Fox News. For example, nowhere is there a place to indicate concern over drone strikes, sexual assault in the military or the chained CPI, all issues that are of concern to liberals.
I’ll have to look back and check to see how many polls Fox News conducted about the very real criminality that ran rampant in the George W. Bush Administration, and then how those polls were worded. Something tells me that a different narrative was being presented at that time…