The median age of a Fox viewer tops 60 - it is disproportionately conservative and Republican. In the 2004 election Fox viewers preferred President Bush over John Kerry by an astonishing 88 percent to 7 percent. Bush's backing among Fox viewers was more solid than his support among white evangelicals, gun owners or supporters of the Iraq war.Before and after the Iraq war, a majority of Americans have had significant misperceptions, and these are highly related to support for the war in Iraq. An in-depth analysis found 48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found, 22% that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. Another key perception is that Iraq was directly involved in September 11, although US intelligence agencies and President Bush himself have confirmed there is no evidence for it. The polling reveals that the frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly according to individuals’ primary source of news. Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have the above misperceptions, while those who primarily listen to other sources are significantly less likely.Far from being conservative, Fox News is an organization dedicated to getting Republicans elected to office. To be sure, it has certain formal properties of a 24 hour cable news network and, on occassion, other media figures have been known to pretend that this is what Fox News is. But no one is seriously confused here about Dick Cheney's favorite network. It's an arm of the Republican Party, a group of vicious hatchet-men leavened by occassional doses of Alan Colmes, David Corn, and Jim Pinkerton.
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