Another Study Proving the Obvious

Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."

It's not that people who watch Fox News are less informed. That's over simplifying the issue. It's that people who watch Fox News believe in things from a parallel universe. They believe George W. Bush was a popular president; Iraq had something to do with 9/11; ACORN stole the election for Obama; that Reagan cut spending and shrunk government; that Obama has spent more money than all presidents combined; Obama attended a madrassa in Indonesia; Obama wasn't born in America; Obama has a fake birth certificate; Obama has had brain surgery; TARP is an Obama policy; Obama created the trillion dollar deficit we have today; Fannie and Freddie, along with Barney Frank, caused the recession; a state-sanctioned torture program is a wonderful thing. The list could go on forever.

You can strike up a conversation with a Fox News viewer at any given time and you will hear any of the above things numerous times. Or you could ask a Fox News viewer a question regarding any of the things above and they will agree to 95% of the list. Thus, they aren't less informed. They are living in an alternate universe where reality is skewed by Fox News. They're lied to constantly. That's the best way to put it.

So why do these people keep watching Fox?  I can't put it any better than I did in my Worlds Collide post:

"People who watch Fox News really believe that they are engaged in a process that separates them from all the people who don't watch Fox News, namely that of Truth. These people believe that Fox gives them an access to truth that is denied to Americans who are brainwashed by the mainstream media. They really believe that Fox News is not just a network that counteracts the biased liberal media, or even a network that reports the stories that the liberal media ignore, but the only vehicle for Truth that exists. That pretty much sums up what's taking place here and why Kristen simply cannot believe Republicans created the massive deficit we have today and not Barack Obama."

*Update:

There's no coincidence either that next to Fox News, the second most popular place Republicans (and conservatives, cause really there's no difference) is from email forwards.  You know the ever so reliable FWD: you get in your inbox from your crazy right wing friend stating Obama has a fake birth certificate and hates America?  Yes that's the second most cited Republican media forum in America.

The email forward is usually located right next to their Fox News app on their cell phone so it makes it handy to catch up on all the day's news in one spot.