In a recent survey by the University of Maryland, it was found that the majority of Bush supporters are ignorant of the facts surrounding American foreign policy matters, particularly in regards to Iraq and the War on Terror.

As an example, 75% of Bush supporters think that Iraq was either directly involved in, or gave al-Qaeda substantial support for the 9/11 attacks. This despite the 9/11 commission finding that there was no link between Iraq and 9/11 whatsoever. 57% of Bush supporters still erroneously believe that Iraq actually had WMDs or a major program for building them.

In another area, only 31% of Bush supporters think the rest of the world is opposed to our invasion of Iraq, while news, polls, and demostrations show that other than the UK, Australia, and Israel, the rest of the world is indeed opposed to our unwarranted invasion of Iraq.

But perhaps most troubling are the areas where Bush supporters are incorrectly perceiving Bush’s stance on many issues – for instance 87% of Bush supporters do not correctly perceive Bush stance on Labor and Environmental issues. And 53% are wrong in their understanding of Bush’s position on the missile defense system.

Bush’s supporters apparent inability to connect with reality is indeed an important factor in Bush’s campaign. Bush’s refusal to admit mistakes, and the Fox News agenda of filtering or spinning negative stories about Bush would appear to be effective in fostering this na?vet? amongst his supporters. Unfortunately, it means that many that support Bush are not voting their conscience, but voting for a lie.

But another factor that is fascinating is that the vast majority of Kerry supports do correctly understand the facts of foreign and domestic affairs, and they also correctly understand Kerry’s stance on the issues. In other words, Kerry supporters are well informed, and Bush supporters are very misled.

Source: http://civilliberty.about.com/b/a/121761.htm