An explanation of Bush's 25-35% Approval Numbers

[JCMach1]

For a long time I have been at a loss to explain specifically in a logical the remaining support for Bush. However, 2 days ago I watched the movie Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism ( http://www.outfoxed.org/ ) . Being a stalwart DUer there wasn't so much information in the movie I didn't already know from other sources.



However, one piece of information explained beautifully Bush's poll numbers. In a poll that was quoted in the film, it appears that a bottom of around 35% will always believe whatever lie that Fox is spouting.

For example, about 33% of Fox viewers believe that WMD were found in Iraq. IT was only about 6% of NPR viewers.

You get the idea. A certain percentage of the population will believe ANY LIE that they see in the media.

And yes, that's a very scary thought.

[MADem]

1. Well hay-yell, it's on the TEE VEE after all...it MUST be true!!! NT

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Actually, I find that kind of encouraging.

There have been many times in the past 6 years when I could have sworn that a fair-sized majority were congenitally incapable of finding their way through the bullshit.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. A lot of these people, if they didn't have FOX to tell them what they wanted to believe, would not

watch news at all and still "believe" what they wanted about their chosen leaders and party, despite any facts.

Yes, there is no doubt a percentage of the FOX viewers who would watch regular nightly news instead (if FOX didn't exist) and be a little better informed, and some would no longer be Republican voters as a result.

FOX caters mostly (not entirely but mostly) to a crowd that knows what it wants to hear. It does serve a very important function in reinforcing the beliefs of those people, and no doubt recruiting some new Republican voters through watching it. But it's fantasy to think that most of this 30-35 percent would be Democrats or not vote Republican if they didn't watch FOX. The majority, in my opinion, would still be Republicans, because they seek out FOX because they ARE Republicans rather than the other way around.

The importance of FOX in reinforcing right wing belief systems and keeping Republicans "in the fold" cannot be overestimated IMHO. I constantly see DU posts harping on how small the FOX/cable news ratings are compared with network, but I'm not buying. Somehow the metrics used in the standard ratings system is not capturing the influence of cable news. I work among people who are overwhelmingly well off Republicans. The huge majority of these folks all watch FOX news, and that shite is constantly on in the work lounges almost everywhere I go. These are professional people with postgraduate level education for the most part, intelligent people who ought to know better but want to be reinforced in their faith in the party that keeps their tax situation comfortable (some are Bible thumpers too, here). The influence of FOX is way more than some 2 percent viewership or whatever would reflect.

I wonder if the ratings only reflect what's happening during evening news time, rather than cumulative viewership over the day, where the FOXers tend to leave their TVs tuned to it for hours on end.

[JCMach1]

4. Totally agree... not to mention how the FOX positions and techniques

have spilled over to places like CNN, MSNBC, and the regular network nightly news broadcasts...

I think those 25-35%ers will believe ANY LIE because of the techniques involved. Of course, they would never be Dems as you point out, but they might have more common sense if they weren't (dare I say) completely brainwashed by the input they are getting.

[Kolesar]

6. I think some "smart" republicans turned away from Fox News, but there are millions of fools

...who cannot think anything through who just suck up whatever that slick channel puts up on the screen. And it constantly serves to keep their messages in the media. For example, I don't think Rush Limbaugh alone would be able to keep global warming disinformation going all by himself. That would have been behind us were it not for Fox News.

[OHdem10]

5. Do Not Forget this final 20%--25% are the Fundamentalist

This is the real Bush Base. They will follow him over a cliff.
They were told from the beginning that Bush is one of them.
I heard Televangelists say on TV as they Campaigned for Bush,
Bush is a special leader for a special time in history.
Many of these people believe Iraq is the opening salvo
in the great battle of Armageddon.

Do not be dismissive of this--they believe it.

They call themselves Christian Nationalists. They believe
they are the most patriotic and stand by the Country right
or wrong, Stand by the party if it is right or wrong
and stand by the president if he is right or wrong.
In other word you do not question authority. They love
the country so therefore, people especailly on the left
who question are the America Haters.

Just the other night Moeller, Head of Southern Baptist Convention
These Conservatives will never go over to the Democratic Side.

[tabasco]

7. I have a cousin who watches Faux "news" all the time.

She recently called me to ask what I thought of the recent economic "boom."

She told me she "lost everything" in Clinton's "crash."

I informed her that the Stock market went up about net7500 points under Clinton and has gone up about 3000 points under Bush.

I also informed her that the dollar went into the toilet under Bush so all of her gains are worth that much less.

The scary thing is I think she really believes this crap.

[CrispyQ]

8. It's difficult when you have backwash in your family.

My rw mother watches faux only. She told me once, "You really should check it out. I find it to be the best news source out there." I was respectful & did not laugh in her face. She says some things that I'm sure she is simply parroting from faux, like "Nancy Pelosi is so far left, she's practically a socialist," & "I voted for any one but Kerry." I could not hold back my laughter on that last one. :eyes: Our differing politics has been quite a strain on our relationship, which was only so-so to begin with.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I work with a man who is one of the 25% or so who still supports

Bush. He is basically a good person and quite intelligent, but he still believes that Saddam had WMD's, which he hid or moved to Syria, and that if we hadn't invaded Iraq, we would still be under great threat of peril. During our last conversation concerning the Iraq war, poverty in the U.S. and the number of people who don't have health insurance (which I finally had to abandon because I was getting too mad and making no headway), I quoted him some facts and he laughed and asked me where I got my news. This comes from a man who listens to Limbaugh and probably, although I don't know for sure, gets his news from Fox.

I printed him some reports using U. S. census data, the Red Cross and the Brookings Institution that backed up the points I had made and left them on his desk. I later found them in the trash and I don't know if he bothered to read them or not since he has never mentioned them and I don't want to ask for fear that it will start the original argument all over again.

What it all boils down to, IMO, is that most of those who still support Bush and his henchmen cannot admit that they made a mistake by voting this POS into office and will continue to stand behind him so as not to be proven wrong themselves. They don't want to hear the truth!