this must have been from a Burger King exit poll

WAR POLL UNCOVERS FACT GAP
MANY MISTAKENLY BELIEVE U.S. FOUND WMDS IN IRAQ
By Frank Davies, Inquirer Washington Bureau
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 14, 2003

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/6085261.htm

WASHINGTON -A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. Twenty-two
percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons.

But such weapons have not been found in Iraq and were not used.

Before the war, half of those polled in a survey said Iraqis were among the
19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. But most of the Sept. 11 terrorists were
Saudis; none was an Iraqi.

The results startled even the pollsters who conducted and analyzed the
surveys. How could so many people be so wrong about information that has
dominated news coverage for almost two years?

"It's a striking finding," said Steve Kull, director of the Program on
International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which asked
the weapons questions during a May 14-18 poll of 1,256 respondents.

He added: "Given the intensive news coverage and high levels of public
attention, this level of misinformation suggests some Americans may be
avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance."

That is, of having their beliefs conflict with the facts. Kull noted that
the mistaken belief that weapons had been found "is substantially greater
among those who favored the war."

Pollsters and political analysts offer several reasons for the gaps between
facts and beliefs: the public's short attention span on foreign news,
fragmentary or conflicting media reports that lacked depth or skepticism,
and Bush administration efforts to sell a war by oversimplifying the threat.

"Most people get little whiffs and fragments of news, not in any organized
way," said Thomas Mann, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, a
centrist-liberal think tank. "And there have been a lot of conflicting
reports on the weapons."

Before the war, the U.S. media often reported as a fact the assertions by
the Bush administration that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of illegal
weapons.

During and after the war, reports of possible weapons discoveries were often
trumpeted on front pages, while follow-up stories debunking the reports
received less attention.

"There were so many reports and claims before the war, it was easy to be
confused," said Larry Hugick, chairman of Princeton Survey Research
Associates. "But people expected the worst from Saddam Hussein and made
connections based on the administration's policy."

Bush has described the preemptive attack on Iraq as "one victory in the war
on terror that began Sept. 11." Bush officials also say Iraq sheltered and
helped al-Qaeda operatives.

"The public is susceptible to manipulation, and if they hear officials
saying there is a strong connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda terrorists,
then they think there must be a connection," Mann said.

"Tapping into the feelings and fears after Sept. 11 is a way to sell a
policy," he added.

Polls show strong support for Bush and the war, although 40 percent in the
May survey found U.S. officials were "misleading" in some of their
justifications for war. A majority, 55 percent, said they were not
misleading.

Several analysts said the murky claims and intelligence data about lethal
weapons and terrorist ties allowed most people to see such news through the
filter of their own political beliefs.

And GOP pollsters said any controversy over weapons won't change public
attitudes, because ridding Iraq of an oppressive regime was reason enough
for war for many Americans.

"People supported the war for national-security reasons, and that shifted to
humanitarian reasons when they saw evidence of Saddam's atrocities,"
Republican strategist Frank Luntz said. "There's an assumption these weapons
will be found because this guy was doing so many bad things."

Several analysts said they were troubled by the lack of knowledge about the
Sept. 11 hijackers, shown in the January survey conducted for Knight Ridder
newspapers. Only 17 percent correctly said that none of the hijackers was
Iraqi.

"That really bothers me, because it shows a lack of understanding about
other countries -- that maybe many Americans don't know one Arab from
another," said Sam Popkin, a polling expert at the University of
California-San Diego who has advised Democratic candidates. "Maybe because
Saudis are seen as rich and friendly, people have a hard time dealing with
them as hijackers."

Hugick said his analysis showed those who were misinformed were not
necessarily those who had less education.

"I think a lot of people are just confused about the threats out there," he
said.