Friday, May 14, 2021

Survey Shows Viewers of cnn and msnbc are Poorly Informed about Crime in the USA

By Merlin
Fri, May 14, 2021 12:54 p.m.

Survey Shows Viewers of cnn and msnbc are Poorly Informed about Crime in the USA.

M: fox viewers are not.

Liberal Media Viewers are Misinformed about Crime in America - Rasmussen Reports®



POLITICS

Liberal Media Viewers are Misinformed about Crime in America

Friday, May 14, 2021

Fewer than 50 unarmed black suspects were killed by police last year and more people were killed with knives than with so-called "assault weapons," but viewers of MSNBC and CNN are far more likely than Fox News viewers to get those facts wrong.

A new Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters who say MSNBC or CNN is their favorite cable news outlet believe more than 100 unarmed African Americans were fatally shot by police in 2020. By contrast, only 22% of Fox News viewers believe police shot more than 100 unarmed black people last year. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Nearly a quarter of CNN viewers (24%) and almost one-in-five MSNBC viewers (19%) think cops fatally shot more than 500 unarmed black suspects last year, but only nine percent (9%) of Fox News viewers think so. Fox News viewers (60%) were about three times more likely than viewers of MSNBC (19%) or CNN (23%) to correctly estimate the number of unarmed black people shot and killed by police in 2020 as less than 50. Sixty percent (60%) of talk radio listeners also estimated the number correctly.

About 1,500 homicides in the U.S. annually are committed with knives, while fewer than 500 are committed with rifles. However, 30% of Likely Voters think the annual number of homicides committed with rifles is more than 500, including 18% who believe more than 1,000 homicides a year are committed with rifles.

Thirty percent (30%) of MSNBC viewers correctly estimated the number of homicides committed with rifles as between 100 and 500, as did 22% of CNN viewers and 19% of Fox News viewers. However, while 63% of Fox viewers underestimated the number of killings with rifles as less than 100, viewers of CNN and MSNBC were more likely to overestimate the number of homicides committed with rifles. Forty-three percent (43%) of CNN viewers and 40% of MSNBC viewers believe rifles are used in more than 500 homicides annually, compared to just 19% of Fox News viewers. Only 26% of talk radio listeners overestimated the number of homicides committed with rifles.

The survey of 2,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on April 29-May 3, 2021 by the Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

The Heartland/Rasmussen survey also asked voters about their viewing preferences for major network news and other media outlets, including online streaming services.

"There is a strong correlation between a likely voter's favorite television news outlet and his or her understanding of basic facts about police shootings and homicides involving rifles," Justin Haskins of the Heartland Institute observed in an analysis. "Compared to viewers of Fox News, 'another' cable news outlet (such as The Blaze TV or Newsmax), and those who do not watch television news, viewers of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC were substantially more likely to overestimate the number of fatal police shootings of unarmed African Americans."

Thirty-four percent (34%) of Likely Voters say Fox News is their favorite cable news outlet, 20% say CNN, 17% say MSNBC, 19% say "another" network and 10% say they don't watch cable news.

Among Republican voters, Fox News is the overwhelming favorite (58%), while most Democrats are divided between CNN (34%) and MSNBC (29%). Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 27% say Fox News is their favorite cable news outlet, 15% say CNN, 12% say MSNBC, 30% say "another" network and 15% say they don't watch cable news.

Only 17% of Likely Voters correctly estimated the number of homicides committed with knives and other sharp objects each year as being between 1,000 and 5,000. Seventy-three percent (73%) underestimated the number of homicides committed with knives, including 25% who believe knives are used in fewer than 100 homicides a year.

Eighteen percent (18%) of Fox News viewers accurately estimated the number of homicides committed with knives annually, as did 17% of CNN viewers and 12% of MSNBC viewers. Twenty-nine percent (29%) of MSNBC viewers believe knives are used in fewer than 100 homicides a year, as do 26% of CNN viewers and 23% of Fox News viewers.

black voters (30%) are more likely than Whites (16%), hispanics (24%) or other minorities (27%) to say CNN is their favorite cable news outlet. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of whites say Fox News is their favorite cable news outlet, as do 26% of black voters, 29% of Hispanics and 33% of other minorities. MSNBC is the favorite cable news outlet of 18% of whites, 16% of blacks, 14% of Hispanics and 13% of other minorities.

Whites (46%) are more likely than black voters (38%), hispanics (38%) or other minorities (44%) to correctly estimate the number of unarmed black people shot and killed by police in 2020 as less than 50.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of black voters believe police fatally shot more than 500 unarmed black people last year, a belief shared by 12% of Whites, 23% of hispanics and 18% of other minorities.

President Joe Biden's strongest supporters were most likely to overestimate the number of unarmed black suspects killed by police. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden's job performance as president, only 19% correctly estimate the number of unarmed black people shot and killed by police in 2020 as less than 50, and 20% believe police fatally shot more than 500 unarmed black people last year. By contrast, among voters who Strongly Disapprove of Biden's performance, 72% correctly estimate the number of police shootings of unarmed black people, and only five percent (5%) think cops fatally shot more than 500 unarmed black people in 2020.

Criticism of police from politicians isn't improving law enforcement, according to a majority of voters who say anti-police rhetoric makes life more dangerous for cops.

More Americans expect crime to rise than to decline under President Biden, and Republicans overwhelmingly expect a nationwide crime increase during the Biden administration.


 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

..and they don't care.Those viewers(not many of them,is the good news)live in fantasy land when it comes to news.

--G R A

Anonymous said...

It is a chicken and egg problem: do leftists watch CNN because it is aligned with their beliefs or do they have those beliefs because they believe what they see on CNN and other Mainstream Marxist Media?
It would be fun to tell the pollsters that your favorite news site was NicholasStixUncensored--when they found out what it is their heads would explode.

Anonymous said...

GRA:Just a note.Received this message for the first time after clicking NSU.

"Attackers on nicholasstixuncensored.blogspot.com may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards)

GRA:Thought you might like to know.

Anonymous said...

jerry pdx
Nicholas, you may be under attack from Google. When I clicked on the link to NSU, I got a big red screen that warned me I was going to a "deceptive" site. There was no way to go forward, I could only go back. I was using Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo.com search engine but Google still shoehorned that warning screen in there. I then switched to Opera browser and was able to access NSU without getting the warning screen. Well, not really a "warning" screen but a dead end screen designed to keep readers out of NSU.

Anybody else experience this?

If so, download the Opera browser and try again but change settings to virtual private network.

Not sure how long Opera may be functional though. Google's power may be too extensive at this point, even browsers and portals dedicated to freedom for their users may not be able to resist Google's censorship agenda.

David In TN said...

Speaking of being poorly informed about crime, it reminds me of the old charge against J. Edgar Hoover. Supposedly Hoover didn't admit to the existence of the Mafia, or organized crime in general. Hoover was severely criticized for it.

Well, the MSM, liberal establishment, etc, don't admit to the black crime rate. Or worse, are indifferent to it.

Anonymous said...

" the number of unarmed black people shot and killed by police in 2020 as less than 50."

About a dozen year after year. And they were all doing something they were not supposed to be doing at the time they were shot. And in some manner did pose a threat to the officer.