HEY! Media Blast this!

[gcomeau]

(Editted to change title to something people will HOPEFULLY pay attention to.)

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report10_21_04.pdf

Just the link and a quick blurb such as "New study finds Bush supporters misled on the issues" or "New study shows Kerry supporters have firmer grasp of the facts" will do.

Some exerpts from the study you may want to also consider including are listed below. I recommend against including them all, the e-mail won't get read if it looks too long. And don't everyone choose the first one please.

"Iraq and al Qaeda

Despite the report of the 9/11 Commission saying there is no evidence Iraq was providing significant support to al Qaeda, 75% of Bush supporters believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda
(30% of Kerry supporters), with 20% believing that Iraq was directly involved in 9/11. Sixty-three percent of Bush supporters even believe that clear evidence of this support has been found..."

Or...

"This tendency of Bush supporters to ignore dissonant information extends to other realms as well. One of these is world public opinion. Despite a steady flow of official statements, public demonstrations, and public opinion polls showing that the US war against Iraq is quite unpopular, only 31% of Bush supporters recognize that the majority of people in the world oppose the US having gone to war with Iraq. Rather, 68% assume that views are evenly divided (42%) or that the majority favors it (26%). Among
Kerry supporters, 74% assume that the majority is opposed (evenly divided, 20%, majority favors it, 5%)."

Or...

"Bush supporters also believe that world public opinion favors Bush’s reelection. In a September 3-7 PIPA/KN poll, 57% of Bush supporters assumed that the majority of people in the world would prefer to see Bush reelected, 33% assumed that views are evenly divided and only 9% assumed that Kerry would be preferred. Kerry supporters held the opposite view, with only 1% assuming a preference for Bush, 30% thinking that views are equally divided, and 69% assuming that Kerry would be preferred.

International polls have found a strong preference for Kerry. Polling conducted by GlobeScan and PIPA (summer 2004) of 35 of the major countries around the world found that in 30 countries a majority or
plurality preferred to see Kerry elected president, while 3 countries favored Bush. On average, 46% favored Kerry while 20% favored Bush. Most recently, a September-October 2004 poll in 10 countries
conducted by an ad hoc group of ten international newspapers (see www.cyberpresse.ca) found majorities or pluralities preferring Kerry in eight countries and Bush in two."

Or...

"When asked (September 3-7) about world public opinion on US foreign policy under the Bush administration, 82% of Bush supporters believed that a world majority either feels better about the US
due to its recent foreign policy (37%), or thought views are about evenly divided (45%). Only 17% thought that a majority now feels worse about the US. Among Kerry supporters, 86% thought a majority
now feels worse about the US and 12% thought views were evenly divided (feels better, 2%).

In fact, in the GlobeScan poll of 35 countries, in 30 countries a majority or plurality said “the foreign policy of George W. Bush” had made them “feel worse about the United States” (feel better: 3 countries). On average, 53% said they felt worse about the US while 19% said they felt better. Most recently, in the 10-country poll just cited, in eight out of ten countries majorities said that “over the course of the last two or three years” their “opinion toward the US has worsened.”

Or... (There's just SO MUCH material in this thing)

"Bush supporters have numerous misperceptions about Bush’s international policy positions. Majorities incorrectly assumed that Bush supports multilateral approaches to various international
issues—the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (69%), the treaty banning land mines (72%); 51% incorrectly assumed he favors US participation in the Kyoto treaty--the principal international accord on global warming. After he denounced the International Criminal Court in the debates, the perception that he opposed it increased from 24% to 38% among Bush supporters, but a majority of supporters (53%) continued to believe that he favors it. Only 13% of supporters are aware that he opposes labor and environmental standards in trade agreements – 74% incorrectly believe that he favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade.

In all these cases, there is a recurring theme: majorities of Bush supporters favor these positions, and they infer that Bush favors them as well. For example, in PIPA’s September 8 – 12 poll 54% of Bush supporters favored participation in Kyoto, 66% favored participation in the land mines treaty, and 68% favored a treaty prohibiting testing nuclear weapons (CTBT). Apparently in the absence of evidence to the contrary, Bush supporters assume Bush feels as they do."

Or...

"So why is this the case? And, more specifically, why are Bush supporters holding so clinging so tightly to beliefs that have been so visibly refuted? As discussed, one key possible explanation for why Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had WMD or a major WMD program, and supported al Qaeda is that they continue to hear the Bush administration confirming these beliefs."

Have fun. I'm off to write a few letters. ;)

-Grant

[silverweb]

1. WOW!!

This is pure dynamite! Sending it to everyone!!

:bounce:

[gcomeau]

2. If we can get this picked up...

...and get it into the public consciousness that most Bush supporters are supporting him based on misunderstandings of his stance on the issues and being misled on the facts it'll be a major blow.

I'm hitting addresses all through the National Media list with this:

=========================================================
A new study from the Program on International Policy Attitudes and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland shows that the majority of Bush supporters are misled or misinformed on a wide range of key issues. The majority of Kerry supporters have a solid grasp on the facts regarding those same issues.

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report10_21_04.pdf

An exerpt from the study's conclusions:

"In all these cases, there is a recurring theme: majorities of Bush supporters favor these positions, and they infer that Bush favors them as well. For example, in PIPA’s September 8 – 12 poll 54% of Bush supporters favored participation in Kyoto, 66% favored participation in the land mines treaty, and 68% favored a treaty prohibiting testing nuclear weapons (CTBT). Apparently in the absence of evidence to the contrary, Bush supporters assume Bush feels as they do."

This study might also be taken as evidence that the news media is not adequately performing it's job of keeping the public well informed in the face of the political spin coming out of Washington during the campaign season. I hope the results of this study will be used as a tool to begin correcting that shortcoming.

-Grant Comeau

[gcomeau]

3. Kick after title edit.

-Grant