Joe Biden has been president for nearly four months. Throughout that time Fox News has done what Fox News always does: Attacks Democrats, liberals, and anyone who fails to fall in line with the the network’s ultra-rightist dogma. Fox’s CEO, Lachlan Murdoch even said publicly that he considers it Fox’s job to oppose Biden.
That mission has narrowed of late to more directly apply exclusively to Donald Trump, rather than the conservative “principles” that once guided the propaganda spew of Fox News. It has become the mandate of both Fox News and the Republican Party to back up Trump, even when it goes against their agenda, the best interests of the party, or the law.
So how’s that working out for them? A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC has an abundance of good news for Biden, along with proof that Fox News has utterly failed in their smear campaign. The poll found that 63% of the American people approve of the job Biden is doing as president. That was broken down between a whopping 96% of Democrats, a healthy 62% of independents, and even a significant 23% of Republicans.
The poll also found that Americans are more optimistic about the direction of the country (54%) than they have been in four years. Which means that this increased optimism isn’t just due to the success Biden has had managing the COVID pandemic. It contrasts with the sullen pessimism that infected the whole of Trump’s term.
As for the handling of the pandemic, Biden has a stellar 71% approval, including 47% of Republicans. The relief and stimulus bill that Biden and congressional Democrats passed (without a single Republican vote) was overwhelming popular across the political spectrum. What’s more, Biden also has majority approval of his handling of healthcare (62%) and the economy (57%).
These numbers are notable, not only because they reflect a growing appreciation for Biden and the progressive initiatives being implemented by Democrats, but also because they were achieved while the most watched cable “news” network was engaged in a full court press to malign the new president. Fox News has labored mightily to undermine Biden at every turn. Although it wasn’t an easy task considering the difficulty they had finding anything to criticize. For that reason Fox obsessed over bizarre trivialities like the “canceling” of Mr. Potato Head, or Grammy porn, or the fallacy that Biden plotted to ban hamburgers.
It’s encouraging to see that despite their best efforts, Fox News has been a dismal failure at dragging down Biden and the positive agenda he’s pursued. Their propaganda blitz doesn’t seem to have tarnished him in the least. If anything, it suggests that he would be even more popular had they not been so obsessively denigrating him.
The only people being hurt by Fox’s avalanche of lies are Fox’s own viewers. They are now more distant from reality than ever. They are more likely to contract the coronavirus due to the scare mongering of Fox News anti-vaxxers like Tucker Carlson. They are more willing to believe Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election being “stolen” from him. They are more comfortable with the rancid racism that is integral to Fox’s messaging.
In short, the audience that is still transfixed by Fox News and its toxic brand of anti-American hostility will continue to wallow in the cesspool of falsehoods that Fox peddles as “news.” But, as this and other polls certify, the majority of the American people remain uncontaminated by Fox and hopeful about the nation’s future. So Fox is just screeching to the choir and having little impact on congregation.
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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.