Study: Difference between Bush and Kerry supporters? Reality.

Death Rabbit · Oct 22, 2004

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Flame suit...on.

According to a new study from the University of Maryland that's making the rounds, it seems that the majority of Bush supporters are...well, just read it.

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.
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And now, finally, I'm beginning to understand where all the (I daresay fanatical) support for Bush comes from.

"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."
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Scary, no? As dmc so aptly put it recently..."some people just don't have any propaganda filters."

Does this apply to all Bush supporters? Of course not. Does it apply to the vast majority? Well, it sure would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

Somehow I doubt this will do much to dispell the "biased liberal media" nonsense, but you never know. And even still - Bush people will of course denounce this as "just one study," and Kerry people will trumpet it to the skies. But the reality is this is a very disturbing trend. Coming from a man who's lived in Sugar Land, Texas for the last 3 years, arguably one of the most conservative places in the country (Tom DeLay is my congressman for chrissakes), who hears the nonsense mentioned above parroted as reality by my neighbors on a regular basis, I can personally attest that this study has more merit that any of us - right or left - would like to admit.

Download the study here.

Blackthorne TA · Oct 22, 2004

Ugh. It's sad to see how little critical thinking people employ in their lives (if the study is true of course).

The really sad thing to me is not that Bush supporters believe things that aren't true, but that this lack of critical thinking is most likely prevalent everywhere.

I mean, I personally get a kick out of all the campaign ads (not just for President but for everything) because they all say contradictory things. But, obviously they must work, or else so much money wouldn't be spent on them.

Even in the voter information guides I have there are a few things where the arguments for and against (and the rebuttals to each) are so contradictory, and the impartial analysis is unclear about so much, that I have to read the actual text of the proposed laws to figure out what it's all about.

I doubt there are many who go through that much trouble to understand what it is they're voting for.

That's what I find is the sad thing: People are too easily influenced by what others tell them to think, and don't take the time to check on the facts. It's especially sad in this day and age where information is so easily accessible...

EDIT
Oh, I forgot to add that I don't think the difference between Bush supporters and Kerry supporters is that one side knows the truth and the other side doesn't, I think it's that each side has chosen to believe what their side's pundits say.

[ October 22, 2004, 19:04: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

Rednik · Oct 22, 2004

Ugh, those numbers should be embarrassing for Bush supporters. Have they been watching fox news for the last 4 years?

Ragusa · Oct 23, 2004

How about another "R" -- reporting?

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said yesterday that he was unaware of reports that a unit of Army Reserve soldiers in Iraq had refused an order to deliver fuel for reasons including that their trucks were lightly armored.

"I don't know anything about that," Bunning said during a news conference after a speech he gave to the Rotary Club of Louisville.

Bunning added that Congress had approved money to upgrade body and vehicle armor. "And I believe that has all been accomplished. And I don't know about your reservists," he said. "Unfortunately, we've had some reports, but I don't know the one you're specifically talking about."

When reporters told him that the unit's refusal was a national news story and involved a soldier from Louisville, Bunning said, "Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information."
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You just can't make stuff this funny up.

... the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong. Nothing a news organisation would or should be proud of - a propagandist, however, might see it as a success.

Murdoch has prescribed his news network to ignore news bad for Bush and to make the president look good. That's what FOX does and sadly they are immensely successful with it.

Taluntain · Oct 23, 2004

Well, this is even better:

"Told that Fox News broadcast the report, Bunning said, "Not the times I watched it. ..."

I'm really at a loss for words here...

Cernak · Oct 25, 2004

The stupid will inherit the earth...and destroy it.

Faraaz · Oct 25, 2004

I am lost for wordsafter reading those. Well, what can one say? Bush isn't the best leader one can hope for, and at best, Dubya in charge of the most powerful country in the world for the next four years can be described as...creepy.

joacqin · Oct 29, 2004

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=17961

I thought this comic was pretty right on target.

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Study: Difference between Bush and Kerry supporters? Reality.

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Study: Difference between Bush and Kerry supporters? Reality.

Death Rabbit Straight, no chaser Adored Veteran Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

Rednik Gems: 21/31Latest gem: Pearl

Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

Cernak Gems: 12/31Latest gem: Moonstone

Faraaz Gems: 26/31Latest gem: Diamond

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Rednik Gems: 21/31
Latest gem: Pearl

Cernak Gems: 12/31
Latest gem: Moonstone

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Latest gem: Diamond