Proof of the obvious

A study done at the University of Maryland has shown that viewers of Fox News are significantly more likely to believe misinformation about current issues.

Compared with viewers/readers of other news outlets, FoxNews vieweres were:

12% more likely to believe that the stimulus caused job losses.

31% more likely to believe that the health care law will worsen the deficit.

26% more likely to believe the economy is getting worse.

30% more likely to believe that most scientists deny that climate change is occurring.

14% more likely to believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts.

14% more likely to believe their own income taxes have gone up.

And, of course, it's what people believe, not the actual facts, that influence how they feel about the ones they think caused it -- usually the same ones that should be getting credit for the actual, opposite, true situation.

I would put this -- deliberate misinformation being sold to/bought by the American people -- alongside the influence of money in our governance as the two biggest obstacles to bringing about progressive change in this country.

Ralph