Conspiracies about voter fraud put our country in danger
Navigator is out this morning with new polling:
Nine in ten Americans are concerned about the spread of misinformation. 90 percent of Americans say they are worried about misinformation, framed as “false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive those who read or hear it.” This includes overwhelming majorities across party lines: Democrats are most concerned about misinformation (95 percent), but more than four in five Republicans (86 percent) and independents (82 percent) say the same.
Cold War babies called this propaganda. But Americans associated propaganda with the Ruskies, with communists. Nowadays, more anodyne terms apply lest we paint Real Americans™ with the same brush. They might take offense.
Respondents report encountering misinformation most often on social media and from Fox. (Hullabaloo readers are yawning.)
Respondents are more optimistic than I about how to stop it:
By a 6-point margin, 43 percent trust Biden/Democrats to stop the spread of misinformation more than Republicans (37 percent), including Black Americans by a 46-point margin (65 percent Biden/Democrats – 19 percent Republicans), Hispanic Americans by a 25-point margin (52 percent Biden/Democrats – 27 percent Republicans), and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by a 12-point margin (48 percent Biden/Democrats – 36 percent Republicans). However, more than half of independents — 54 percent — don’t know which party to trust more on stopping the spread of misinformation.
Flooding the zone with shit feeds cultural disorientation, Steve Bannon’s goal. It’s working on independents.
Navigator adds:
A majority of Americans and independents find a range of statements around Republicans lying about recent elections in the United States concerning, including lies around voter fraud and the January 6th riot.
Sixty-one percent of Americans (including 58 percent of independents) believe voter fraud conspiracy theories spread by Republicans and “MAGA politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene” are “putting our country in danger.”
Remember “Stranger Danger“? If only children learned to run from propagandists bidding them to climb into their online vehicles.