Hannity falsely claimed Fox poll found Dems don't want Bush's plan to succeed in Iraq

Written by Kurt Donaldson

Published


On the January 25 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity falsely stated that “a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll recently showed that most Democrats don't even want the president's plan to succeed in Iraq.” In fact, the poll showed that 51 percent of Democratic respondents said they want President Bush's “Iraq plan” to succeed, compared with 34 percent who said they don't.

Referring to President Bush's proposal to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq, the poll, conducted January 16-17, asked, “Do you personally want the Iraq plan President Bush announced last week to succeed?” Contrary to Hannity's claim, 51 percent of the poll participants who identified themselves as Democrats responded, “Yes,” and 34 percent responded, “No,” while 15 percent answered, “Don't know.” Furthermore, the question did not ask, as Hannity claimed, whether respondents wanted “the president's plan to succeed in Iraq.” It merely asked whether respondents wanted Bush's “Iraq plan” “to succeed,” which respondents could have interpreted as a question about whether Bush should succeed in implementing his plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.

Hannity may have confused the question with another in the poll that asked respondents, “Do you think most Democrats want the Iraq plan President Bush announced last week to succeed and lead to a stable Iraq or do they want it to fail and for him to have to withdraw U.S. troops in defeat?” Thirty-two percent of all respondents (whether Democrats, Republicans, or independents) answered that they thought most Democrats wanted “Success,” 48 percent answered, “Failure,” 9 percent answered, “Some one, some another,” and 11 percent answered, “Don't know.”

From the January 25 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, during a discussion between Hannity and Republican strategist Mary Matalin:

HANNITY: The president reaches across the line. Nancy Pelosi, the day after election, had promised that she'd be -- quote -- “civil, bipartisan.” Seems to go out the window pretty quickly here.

You know, and a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll recently showed that most Democrats don't even want the president's plan to succeed in Iraq.

MATALIN: That's stunning.

HANNITY: The president's approval ratings are low. How does he recover in this environment, when it appears they want no success for him?