Study shows most Bush Supporters are ignorant

[glatt]

I'm not surprised to read this, but a new study by a research organization at the University of Maryland shows that the majority of Bush supporters have a very poor understanding of the facts surrounding the Iraq war.

The followign quote is a press release about the study

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pr...0_21_04.html#1
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.

These are some of the findings of a new study of the differing perceptions of Bush and Kerry supporters, conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes and Knowledge Networks, based on polls conducted in September and October.

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." Asked whether the US should have gone to war with Iraq if US intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or providing support to al Qaeda, 58% of Bush supporters said the US should not have, and 61% assume that in this case the President would not have. Kull continues, "To support the president and to accept that he took the US to war based on mistaken assumptions likely creates substantial cognitive dissonance, and leads Bush supporters to suppress awareness of unsettling information about prewar Iraq."

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. 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.

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. For more information about this methodology, go to www.knowledgenetworks.com/ganp.


Funding for this research was provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

[Cyber Wolf]

Sheep. Point them in a direction, give 'em a nudge and off they go.

[Troubleshooter]

Mmm... Lemmings...

Lynch mob

[flippant]

Oh is this another word association thread?
Lynch mob=> the Bush administration

[Griff]

Bush Administration=> Bush League

[tw]

from The Economist of 16 Oct 2004
The president is not even pretending to appeal to undecided voters. His rallies are all-ticket affairs, and tickets go only to volunteers or donors. Some have been asked to sign pledges of support and agree that their names be uses as part of the campaign. Kerry supporters with the temerity to appear are ejected and have been threatened with jail (apparently for trespass). ...

In other words, the differences at the debates reflect different calculation about the last stage of the race. The Democrats think the contest will be won, as so often, in the middle; so they are reaching out to swing voters. Republicans think the race will be won by whoever turns out his core supporters more successfully; they are reaching out to social conservatives.

One thing my most Republican friends say (and I was raised very Republican) is that Bush is the centrist; Kerry the liberal. However, why then is Bush not even trying to recruit those who are politically centrist? Well, centrists don't vote that reliabily. Go for the core supporter - right wing religious extremists and other hard core supoprters who do vote religiously.

Curiously, in PA, Bush campaign is going after the Amish vote of 50,000 in PA and 54,000 in Ohio. As long as the Amish remain so ill informed, then they will even believe that Saddam attacked the World Trade Center. They will even believe that George Jr is honest because he is religious - he is one of us. Of course, only a world worst liar would advocate the invasion of another sovereign nation, then 'fix' the facts to justify same. One must be informed to see the repeated lies.

I routinely stop complete strangers only with the eventual intent to ask them one simple question. Who attacked the World Trade Center? Most don't know. Some (such as the gas station attendent but an hour ago) say it is Saddam - as often as they say Ossam bin Laden. Yes, we the people are so ill informed that we only hear MTV sound bytes. This is exactly the mental midgetry that George Jr appeals to. Go for the core constituency. Extremism is where the least informed people lie. Don't recruit from the centrists. Centrists know the tax cuts were nonsense when proposed. They know bin Laden is still running free because George Jr made it so. They know the silly Manned Mission to Mars to total bullshit - another example in the long list of perverting science. They know the anti-missile defense system does not work and has no purpose. They know stem cell research is being stifled by a religious extremst president. They know this president used Echelon to spy on all Security Council nations to get a vote to invade Iraq (almost every Security Council nation said the invasion was wrong and not justified). Centrists even know the president tried to quash the 9/11 Commission - as all four Jersey girls loudly declared long before the 9/11 Commission was created. To get elected, this mental midget president must rally the naive and ignorant among us. And unfortunately, too many people don't even know who destroyed the WTC.

Do it your self. As that 7-11 Cashier. That guy reading a paper at the coffee shop corner. The person who parks next to you. A surprisingly large number don't even know who attacked America - and then blame Saddam. Amazing how a president can lie so often - and we believe him.

Yes, only a few years ago, even Cellar dwellars tried to claim Saddam was involved in 9/11 - because this president counts on the people just not knowing the facts. This president recruits from his extremist core base - that in America is quite large and that votes ... religiously.