A study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks sought to find out how well informed consumers were about the war.
It found that 48% of Americans believed that the US had identified links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, 22% thought that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and 25% thought that world public opinion backed the US going to war on Iraq.
As many as 80% of Fox viewers believed at least one of the statements, compared with 71% of CNN viewers; 61% of ABC viewers, 55% each of those who followed the war on either NBC and CNN.
The study showed that these misconceptions were linked to the high level of US public support for President Bush's decision to go to war on Iraq.
"While we can not assert that these misperceptions created the support for going to war with Iraq, it does appear likely that support for the war would be substantially lower if fewer members of the public had these misperceptions," Stephen Kull, director of PIPA, said.
Among people who did not believe any of the inaccuracies, only 23% supported the war. This rose to 53% among those who believed one of the statements. As many as 78% of those who believed two of the statements backed the war and 86% of those who believed all three misconceptions supported the war.
The study also found that those people most likely to believe inaccurate statements about the war were supporters of Bush, and Fox, which owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is largely regarded as a pro-Bush channel.
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