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Thread: Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media

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    Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media


    Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media
    By James Agresti
    Published on January 3, 2020
    Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media | The Stream

    NBC News reporter and political director Chuck Todd recently railed against "misinformation" and singled out President Trump and "the right" for having an "incentive structure" to spread it. Todd — who, according to NBC, "is responsible for all aspects of the network's political coverage" — also stated that Republicans criticize the media for "sport" and "the loudest chanters of fake news" are "the ones who, under a lie detector, would probably take our word over any word they've heard from the other side on whether something was poisonous or not."

    Speaking directly to those unsupported claims, a scientific survey commissioned by Just Facts shows that many people are indeed misinformed — but contrary to Todd — this is a bipartisan affair. In fact, the survey found that the most commonly believed misinformation accords with left-leaning narratives spread by the press, and Democrat voters are more likely to accept these falsehoods than Trump voters. Furthermore, sizable portions of Trump voters have swallowed some of these media-promoted liberal fictions, as well as some conservative ones.

    The findings are from a nationally representative annual survey commissioned by Just Facts, a non-profit research and educational institute. The survey was conducted by academic research firm Triton Polling & Research and used sound methodologies to assess U.S. residents who regularly vote.

    While most polls measure public opinion, this unique one measures voters' knowledge of major issues facing the nation — such as education, taxes, healthcare, national debt, pollution, government spending, Social Security, global warming, energy and hunger. Every year, the poll includes a new question about a prevalent, controversial issue. This year, it is about poverty....



    ...Among 8 of the 10 questions in which the electorate was most deluded,
    the wrong answers they gave accorded with progressive storylines propagated by the media. Moreover, these answers were often far removed from reality, not just slightly mistaken.

    For example, 79% of voters think that the middle class pays a greater portion of their income in federal taxes than the top 1%. Yet, the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Treasury, and the Tax Policy Center have all documented that households in the top 1% pay an average federal tax rate that is about 2.5 times higher than that of the middle class. More specifically, the latest Congressional Budget Office data on federal taxes shows that on average in 2016:

    middle-income households paid $10,100 in taxes on income of $75,900, or a tax rate of 13%.
    the top 1% of households paid $595,900 in taxes on income of $1,789,800, or a tax rate of 33%.

    Nevertheless, media outlets commonly report the opposite
    based on deceptive studies that exclude large portions of people's taxes and/or incomes.

    A remarkable 93% of Democrat voters have accepted this canard, as well as 65% of Trump voters.

    Results by Age, Gender and Politics

    The survey also recorded voters' ages, genders, and who they planned to vote for in the upcoming presidential election (Donald Trump, the eventual Democrat nominee, or a third-party candidate). This allows the survey to pinpoint segments of society that are most and least informed about specific issues.

    The results show deep partisan and demographic divides, with different groups being more or less knowledgeable depending upon the questions.

    In total, the rates at which voters gave the correct answers varied from a high of 46% for Trump voters to a low of 32% for Democrat voters, with others falling in between as follows


    46% for Trump voters
    43% for males
    41% for 35 to 64 year olds
    38% for 65+ year olds
    37% for 18 to 34 year olds
    36% for females
    32% for Democrat voters

    The sample sizes of unsure and third-party voters were too small to produce meaningful data.

    The questions, answers, full survey results and methodologies are available here.









    Last edited by GodismyJudge; 01-03-2020 at 11:54 AM. Reason: format
    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (futility) of their mind, having the understanding darkened...
    (Ephesians 4:17-18)

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...
    (Psalm 1)

  2. #2
    Bottom line results are also showing up with the passing of lies and fake news resulting in CNN's spiral into the ratings sewer. That 46% Trump voters number may even be higher than polled. Fox News is leading the way in ratings as the #1 news network.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GodismyJudge View Post
    [indent]
    Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media
    By James Agresti
    Published on January 3, 2020
    Scientific Survey Shows Voters Widely Accept Misinformation Spread by the Media | The Stream

    NBC News reporter and political director Chuck Todd recently railed against "misinformation" and singled out President Trump and "the right" for having an "incentive structure" to spread it. Todd — who, according to NBC, "is responsible for all aspects of the network's political coverage" — also stated that Republicans criticize the media for "sport" and "the loudest chanters of fake news" are "the ones who, under a lie detector, would probably take our word over any word they've heard from the other side on whether something was poisonous or not."

    Speaking directly to those unsupported claims, a scientific survey commissioned by Just Facts shows that many people are indeed misinformed — but contrary to Todd — this is a bipartisan affair. In fact, the survey found that the most commonly believed misinformation accords with left-leaning narratives spread by the press, and Democrat voters are more likely to accept these falsehoods than Trump voters. Furthermore, sizable portions of Trump voters have swallowed some of these media-promoted liberal fictions, as well as some conservative ones.

    The findings are from a nationally representative annual survey commissioned by Just Facts, a non-profit research and educational institute. The survey was conducted by academic research firm Triton Polling & Research and used sound methodologies to assess U.S. residents who regularly vote.

    While most polls measure public opinion, this unique one measures voters' knowledge of major issues facing the nation — such as education, taxes, healthcare, national debt, pollution, government spending, Social Security, global warming, energy and hunger. Every year, the poll includes a new question about a prevalent, controversial issue. This year, it is about poverty....



    ...Among 8 of the 10 questions in which the electorate was most deluded,
    the wrong answers they gave accorded with progressive storylines propagated by the media. Moreover, these answers were often far removed from reality, not just slightly mistaken.

    For example, 79% of voters think that the middle class pays a greater portion of their income in federal taxes than the top 1%. Yet, the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Treasury, and the Tax Policy Center have all documented that households in the top 1% pay an average federal tax rate that is about 2.5 times higher than that of the middle class. More specifically, the latest Congressional Budget Office data on federal taxes shows that on average in 2016:

    middle-income households paid $10,100 in taxes on income of $75,900, or a tax rate of 13%.
    the top 1% of households paid $595,900 in taxes on income of $1,789,800, or a tax rate of 33%.
    That could be because people answer intuitively according to how much they think that rich people manage to reduce their taxable income from their actual income, on average. If the average rich person manages to reduce his actual income by 2/3 then the respondents would be right according to the tax rate on the rich person's actual income. 2/3 still sounds like it's way too much so the finding is most probably correct anyway.

    They may also be confused by or ignore the term "federal tax" and reply thinking that the question is about "total taxation", at least including state level taxes. I don't really know how much of a difference that makes but there are all kinds of pitfalls.

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