are ill-informed. I know this has been linked around, but.... From a new non-partisan poll:
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.
From a Knight Ridder write-up:
Steven Kull, program director, said Bush supporters had a "resistance to information'' on several fronts that reflected a powerful bond with the president formed after the Sept. 11 attacks. Kull also cited the perception -- shared by Kerry supporters -- that Bush still asserts that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.[...]
"To support the president and to accept that he took the United States to war based on mistaken assumptions is difficult to bear, especially in light of the continuing costs in terms of lives and money,'' Kull said.
"Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information.''
Slate's Will Saletan had a piece along these lines recently--and I sorta remember forwarding the same theory. But I can't find either citation. In any case, I think that theory might be right, but it doesn't need to be the only explanation. I'd be interested to know poll responses for people who rely on the lowest common denominator in media: local news, then network news, etc. (My guess is that it's not just that some people want to be misinformed, it's that some people who for one reason or another just glance at the news end up being ill-served.)
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