As the mouthpiece for the GOP and the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, the Fox News channel is doing all in its power to show that the HHS contraception mandate is proof of the Obama administration's "war on Catholics." In an effort to convince viewers that American Catholics don't support the mandate, they are using a polling data from Rasmussen which, traditionally skews Republican with loaded questions posed to elicit a response that coincides with whatever right wing meme they are promoting. In this case, the Fox meme is that this policy is a violation of religious freedom and that most Americans agree. Thing is that this doesn't really appear to be the case. Details, details.

Rasmussen has a poll that shows that 50% of Americans oppose the mandate. Meanwhile, PPP has polling data that is very different with 55% of Americans and 58% of Catholics supporting it. Last night, Bill O'Reilly cited only Rasmussen. This morning, Fox & Friends cited it, exclusively. And Megyn Kelly just referenced it without noting the PPP data. Another thing that the Fox discussion seems to be ignoring is the fact that 26 states require insurers, that cover prescription drugs, to also provide contraceptive coverage with churches being exempt - just like the Obama policy. They also ignore the reality that some Catholic institutions of higher learning, like DePaul, currently cover contraception in their health plan. Fox News "fair & balanced" as always.

Sample Question in Rasmussen: "The requirement to provide contraceptives for women violates deeply held beliefs of some churches and religious organizations. If providing such coverage violates the beliefs of a church or religious organization, should the government still require them to provide coverage for contraceptives?"  The HHS mandate provides, as it does in all the states that have mandates identical to HHS's, an exemption for churches. This is not noted in the question. Perhaps they should have also asked something to the effect of "do you believe that the rights of women to access health care supersede Catholic sharia." Just joking but you catch my drift.

The bottom line is that if Fox is "Fair & Balanced," they should mention that polling data shows different results. But that wouldn't fit the propaganda meme and so it goes....