Many of you may be worried that an uniformed dope like me could affect the election coming up. Well not to worry. A recent New York Times story says that most people still get their news the old fashioned way; from paid political advertising.
Of course there's a downside to that as well.
"Even people who say they learn nothing from the advertisements believe the claims made in them, the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey shows. At the same time, people are remarkably unfamiliar with the candidates' true positions — the stuff that hasn't been advertised much.
The Annenberg survey recently interviewed 1,026 adults in the 18 battleground states where the campaigns have been showing commercials since March. In those states, 61 percent of respondents believe Mr. Bush "favors sending American jobs overseas" and 56 percent believe Mr. Kerry "voted for higher taxes 350 times." Both of those statements have been repeated countless times in commercials — but neither is accurate."
I will say that Kerry voting for tax cuts 350 times is probably closer to a lie than President Bush favoring sending jobs over seas. After all the Bush ad makes a very specific claim; that Kerry voted for spending increases 350 times. The Kerry ad's claim is more general, and we certainly haven't seen much action on the part of the administration to stem the movement of American jobs overseas.
Still the fact that most Americans get their political facts from advertising has to put a smile on Karl Rove's face.
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