Fox News Viewers Are Worst Informed Voters

WorldPublicOpinion.org, managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, has just released a new poll, and it's a pretty interesting one.   What they were interested in was how informed the voters were in the last election.   The results are not encouraging.

The poll found that quite a few voters were misinformed about critical issues.   Consider the voter responses to the following poll questions:

Did most economists who studied it think the stimulus -
saved or created millions of jobs (correct)..........8%
saved or created a few jobs..........68%
caused job losses..........20%

What is the view among economists on what health care reform will do to the budget in the next ten years?
most think it will not increase the deficit (correct)..........13%
views are evenly divided..........29%
most think it will increase the deficit..........53%

What is the view of MOST scientists on climate change?
climate change is occurring (correct)..........54%
views are evenly divided..........33%
climate change is not occurring..........12%

What president was the TARP bailout passed and signed into law under?
Geroge Bush (correct)..........55%
Barack Obama..........40%

Which president did the Chrysler and GM bailout occur under?
both presidents (correct)..........28%
George Bush..........16%
Barack Obama..........53%

Did the stimulus legislation include any tax cuts?
included tax cuts (correct)..........43%
did not include tax cuts..........54%

What has happened to YOUR federal income taxes since January 2009?
gone down (correct for 97%)..........10%
stayed the same..........48%
gone up..........38%

What has the Obama administration done with the number of troops in Afghanistan?
increased them (correct)..........55%
kept them the same..........23%
decreased them..........20%

Was President Obama born in the United States?
born in the U.S. (correct)..........55%
not clear where he was born..........27%
not born in the U.S...........15%

That is a lot of misinformed voters, and it helps to explain why the election turned out like it did.   The one bright spot in the poll was that it showed that the more news the voters had watched/read the less misinformed they were in general.   Well, that was true for all news sources but one.   The regular viewers of Fox News were the most misinformed viewers of any group.   Here is how much misinformation the viewers of television news channels showed:

Believed stimulus created or saved only a few jobs or cost jobs -
Fox..........91%
CNN..........84%
MSNBC..........64%
Network news..........90%
PBS/NPR..........87%

Believed health care reform will increase the deficit -
Fox..........72%
CNN..........46%
MSNBC..........45%
Networks..........49%
PBS/NPR..........40%

Believed scientists are divided or think climate change is not occurring -
Fox..........60%
CNN..........25%
MSNBC..........20%
Networks..........35%
PBS/NPR..........13%

Believed their federal income taxes have gone up since 2009 -
Fox..........49%
CNN..........26%
MSNBC..........27%
Networks..........38%
PBS/NPR..........36%

Believed the stimulus did not include any tax cuts -
Fox..........63%
CNN..........44%
MSNBC..........34%
Networks..........52%
PBS/NPR..........33%

Believed the GM & Chrysler bailout occurred only under Obama -
Fox..........56%
CNN..........48%
MSNBC..........32%
Networks..........55%
PBS/NPR..........41%

Believed Obama was not born in U.S. or it was not clear where he was born -
Fox..........63%
CNN..........41%
MSNBC..........39%
Networks..........43%
PBS/NPR..........22%

Believed the TARP bailout was signed into law by President Obama -
Fox..........47%
CNN..........38%
MSNBC..........38%
Networks..........51%
PBS/NPR..........48%

It's pretty clear that none of the news sources are doing a great job of informing there regular viewers (and the above numbers are for regular viewers).   The misinformation is too high for the viewers of all the listed news sources.   However, there is one that stands out as leading the pack in misinformed voters -- Fox News.

That's because, even though they claim to be fair and balanced, what they really provide for their viewers is a slanted version of the news -- slanted toward the right-wing views of the Republican Party (and the owners of Fox News).   For years now, they have been little more than the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.