Brit Hume misrepresented the results of a Fox News poll to suggest that Americans “would now support” air strikes to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, when in fact the question added the condition “if diplomacy fails.”
Hume misrepresented Fox poll to claim majority “would now support” military strike on Iran
Published
On the January 26 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Brit Hume misrepresented a January 24-25 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll by reporting that it shows 51 percent of Americans “would now support” air strikes to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and 46 percent would support “air strikes coupled with a ground invasion.” In fact, the poll asked whether respondents would support various military actions "[i]f diplomacy fails" -- a condition that Hume omitted.
From the January 24-25 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll:
From the January 26 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:
HUME: A majority of Americans, 51 percent, would now support air strikes to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, while a plurality, 46 percent, would support air strikes coupled with a ground invasion. That, according to a new Fox News poll, which shows that 56 percent of Americans think Iran poses an immediate or near-term threat to the U.S. Just 7 percent said the country is not a danger to American security.