It’s a shame democracy is dependent on an informed electorate, because the public is still terribly confused about pretty basic facts.
More than half of Americans, 54 percent, continue to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or a program to develop them before the United States invaded last year, according to a poll released Friday.
Evidence of such weapons has not been found.
Half believe Iraq was either closely linked with al-Qaida before the war (35 percent) or was directly involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on this country (15 percent).
That’s the bad news. The good news is the public is slightly better informed now than they were a year ago on the same issues.
The poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found the numbers on both questions have dropped in the face of evidence that both pre-war claims may have been false.
To be sure, it’s discouraging so many people are so wrong about truths that should be common knowledge. On the other hand, researchers seem to have identified the problem.
A new PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll finds that a large majority perceives the Bush administration making assertions about pre-war Iraq in sharp contrast to the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Eighty percent perceive the administration as “currently saying that Iraq, just before the war, had actual weapons of mass destruction” (60%) or that it had a major WMD program (20%). Similarly, 70% perceive the administration as currently saying Iraq “gave substantial support to al-Qaeda” (43%) or was directly involved in the September 11 attacks (27%).
So, while Bush and other administration officials try to parse their words and narrowly avoid lying by using careful language, the public is getting a far different message. In other words, the White House’s strategy of delivering a message with subtleties and nuances is working.
The public has to take some responsibility for not knowing what’s going on, but it certainly doesn’t help when their leaders are willing to say things that clearly aren’t true.