News

Three charts on completely untrue things Americans actually believe

A widespread belief in things that are totally untrue is still somehow thriving in the US.

Tell us something we don't know, we hear you shout, but bear with us.

A poll of 964 adults last month by New Jersey's Fairleigh Dickinson University revealed that a majority of Republican voters believe the US did find an active WMD programme in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

It will come as no surprise that the proportion of Fox News viewers who believe that assertion to be true is slightly higher, but what might surprise is how many people who watch The Daily Show think the same.

Excluding don't knows and grouping "definitely true" / "probably true" and "probably not true" / "definitely not true" into two groups

Things don't look a whole lot more informed when the questions are about president Barack Obama, and it's not just Republicans either.

Commenting, Professor Dan Cassino said:

Our leaders in Washington can’t seem to agree on much.

But when the public can't even agree on basic facts about politics, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

Source: PublicMind

More: [Why people can never be trusted in eight charts]2

The Conversation (0)
x