101 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
101 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
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| ___________ _/_/ | | \ \ _/_/ ___________ |
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| | c o m m u n i c a t i o n s | |
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| |________________________________________________________________| |
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|____________________________________________________________________|
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...presents... The Media and Campaign 1992
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by Justin Lewis
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and Michael Morgan
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>>> a cDc publication.......1993 <<<
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-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
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____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____
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|____digital_media____digital_culture____digital_media____digital_culture____|
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The Center for the Study of Communication at the University of
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Massachusetts/Amherst conducted a nationwide survey of 601 likely (randomly
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selected) voters in early October, 1992. The aim of the study was to find out
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what people had learned about the candidates and the issues during the
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campaign.
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The survey, in line with others, found Clinton leading with 41%, Bush with
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32%, Perot with 10%, and 17% undecided.
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The survey also found that while many voters are familiar with some of the
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more trivial aspects of the campaign, their knowledge of the candidates'
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policies, records and the issues in general was extremely low. Out of 21
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questions about the candidates and the issues, the average score was 32%
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correct answers - a figure that drops to 27% if the more trivial questions are
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removed.
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Most respondents knew, for example, that the Bush family has a dog called
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Millie (86%), while only 15% know that both Bush and Clinton support the death
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penalty, and less than 5% are aware that both candidates have proposed making
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cuts in capital gains taxes.
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When it comes to more general issues, the news gets worse. When asked to
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choose between welfare, foreign aid and military spending as the biggest
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federal budget item, the most popular choice, selected by 46%, was foreign aid.
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In fact, the U.S. spends less per capita on foreign aid than most other
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industrial nations, and it consumes only 1% of the 1992 federal budget. The
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second most nominated area was welfare - selected by 32% - (welfare spending
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comprises just 5% of the federal budget) with only 23% picking by far and away
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the biggest ticket item, military spending (21% of the federal budget). This
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suggests that most voters have absolutely no idea how their tax dollars are
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spent: worse, when given a choice, they make wildly inaccurate and politically
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charged assumptions. People who rely more on TV news were particularly likely
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to assume that foreign aid is the most expensive budget item and the military
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spending costs the least.
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Not only do voters over-estimate the amount spend on welfare, but most
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have mistaken assumptions about welfare recipients. Almost two out of three
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over-estimate the proportion of people on welfare who are black, and 80% over-
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estimate the number of children women on welfare have (less than 2%
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under-estimated the number of children).
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While Clinton supporters are more likely to be drawn from less educated
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groups, (Clinton leads Bush by only 4.5% by those who have been to college, but
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by 25% among those who have not) they are, overall, the best informed group of
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voters, followed by Perot supporters, with Bush supporters (the best educated
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group overall) scoring the lowest.
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The survey suggests that Republican claims of liberal bias in the media
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are without foundation: indeed, on many issues the Republicans have been much
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more likely to get their message across than the Democrats. When asked who was
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accused of using family influence to avoid duty in Vietnam, 64% named Clinton
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and only 38% named Dan Quayle. Although taxes in Clinton's Arkansas are lower
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than in most states, only 1 in 5 knew this, while nearly a third said that
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Arkansas's taxes are "among the highest in the nation." On a range of policy
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issues, voters assume Clinton's positions are more liberal than those he has
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proposed, while the Democrat's attempt to point out that Bush's recommended
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budget last year was higher than that approved by Congress has not gotten
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through: voters are three times (73% to 24%) more likely to assume it was
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Congress who wanted to spend more. Heavy news viewers tend consistently to get
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the answer "wrong" (ie: to give the Republican-oriented version of the facts).
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_______ __________________________________________________________________
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/ _ _ \|Demon Roach Undrgrnd.806/794-4362|Kingdom of Shit.....806/794-1842|
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((___)) |Cool Beans!..........510/THE-COOL|Polka AE {PW:KILL}..806/794-4362|
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[ x x ] |Ripco................312/528-5020|Moody Loners w/Guns.415/221-8608|
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\ / |The Works............617/861-8976|Finitopia...........916/673-8412|
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(' ') |Lunatic Labs.........213/655-0691|ftp - ftp.eff.org in pub/cud/cdc|
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(U) |==================================================================|
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.ooM |1993 cDc communications by Lewis and Morgan 03/01/93-218|
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\_______/|All Rights Drooled Away. SIX GLORIOUS YEARS of cDc|
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