Poll: Bush supporters show disconnect with reality

My apologies to all the intelligent Bush supporters out there who actually do read the news and turn a critical eye toward their candidate from time to time - you are clearly not the people this poll is highlighting!

Still - just look at these numbers, taken from a survey of around 2500 people:

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.

Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.

The press release concludes:

'The roots of the Bush supporters' resistance to information,' according to Steven Kull, 'very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11 and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. This appears to have created a powerful bond between Bush and his supporters--and an idealized image of the President that makes it difficult for his supporters to imagine that he could have made incorrect judgments before the war, that world public opinion could be critical of his policies or that the President could hold foreign policy positions that are at odds with his supporters.

The items above aren't differences of opinion - they're concrete, demonstrable facts. They can be measured. They can be tested. And Bush supporters are overwhelming choosing to believe things that are clearly, provably contrary to the real world. That's a scary thing.

Yes, there are thinking people who support Bush out there. I know and love some of them. But we need to ask ourselves how so many of the president's boosters can be so misguided on these important issues. And, as Salon wonders aloud, "How can arguments based on fact prevail in a nation where so many people know so little?"

Good question.