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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Few issues depress me more than that my fellow Americans not only do not 
inform themselves about the serious issues of our time, but when they do 
seek information, they limit their information sources to those that 
support their preconceptions. It's bad enough that candidates from both 
parties are knowingly lying to us. What is tragic is they know they can get 
away with it.

http://pipa.org/

Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD or Major Program,
Supported al Qaeda

Agree with Kerry Supporters Bush Administration Still Saying This is the Case

Agree US Should Not Have Gone to War if No WMD or Support for al Qaeda

Bush Supporters Misperceive World Public as Not Opposed to Iraq War, 
Favoring Bush Reelection

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq 
did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to 
believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing 
them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had 
actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq 
had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on 
all these points.

Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was 
providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear 
evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters 
assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, 
incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here 
again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.

These are some of the findings of a new study of the differing perceptions 
of Bush and Kerry supporters, conducted by the Program on International 
Policy Attitudes and Knowledge Networks, based on polls conducted in 
September and October.

Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments, "One of the reasons that Bush 
supporters have these beliefs is that they perceive the Bush administration 
confirming them. Interestingly, this is one point on which Bush and Kerry 
supporters agree." Eighty-two percent of Bush supporters perceive the Bush 
administration as saying that Iraq had WMD (63%) or that Iraq had a major 
WMD program (19%). Likewise, 75% say that the Bush administration is saying 
Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda. Equally large 
majorities of Kerry supporters hear the Bush administration expressing 
these views--73% say the Bush administration is saying Iraq had WMD (11% a 
major program) and 74% that Iraq was substantially supporting al Qaeda.

Steven Kull adds, "Another reason that Bush supporters may hold to these 
beliefs is that they have not accepted the idea that it does not matter 
whether Iraq had WMD or supported al Qaeda. Here too they are in agreement 
with Kerry supporters." Asked whether the US should have gone to war with 
Iraq if US intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or 
providing support to al Qaeda, 58% of Bush supporters said the US should 
not have, and 61% assume that in this case the President would not have. 
Kull continues, "To support the president and to accept that he took the US 
to war based on mistaken assumptions likely creates substantial cognitive 
dissonance, and leads Bush supporters to suppress awareness of unsettling 
information about prewar Iraq."

Read More.....