Poll: Fox News watchers far more likely to have negative views of Muslims By Greg Sargent

The new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, which I linked to below, also contained this interesting nugget:

The survey findings also show a significant correlation between trust in Fox News and negative attitudes about Muslims. Americans who most trust Fox News are more likely to believe that Muslims want to establish Shari’a law, have not done enough to oppose extremism, and believe investigating Muslim extremism is a good idea.

At first glance, this is a bit of a no-brainer. But I asked the organization to send over the numbers supporting this finding, and the specifics are really striking:

* 41% of Republicans who most trust Fox News believe that American Muslims want to establish Shari’a law as law of the land in the United States, compared to 23% of Republicans who most trust other news sources and 22% of the general public.

65% of Republicans who most trust Fox News believe that American Muslims have not done enough to oppose extremism in their communities, compared to 45% of Republicans who most trust other news sources and 47% of the general public.

* 82% of Republicans who most trust Fox News believe the hearings on the alleged extremism in the American Muslim community are a good thing, compared with 60% of Republicans who most trust other news sources and 56% of the general public.

* 53% of Republicans who most trust Fox News say they feel well informed about Islam and the beliefs and practices of Muslims, compared to 34% of Republicans who most trust other news sources and 46% of the general public.

The pattern is overwhelmingly clear. Incidentally, that last finding borders on the sublime: Republicans who most trust Fox News are far more likely than other GOPers to say they are well informed about Muslims — even as they are also far more likely to believe that Muslims broadly want to establish Sharia as the “law of the land” in America.

Here’s how these numbers were arrived at. The poll — whose interviews were overseen by the reputable Opinion Research Corporation — asked which news org people most trust for information on politics and current events. Twenty six percent picked Fox. The poll also asked people a variety of questions about Muslims. The above numbers represent the responses to those questions from the 26 percent who most trust Fox for their info.

Now, we’ll never know whether Fox watchers harbor these views because they watch Fox, or whether they watch Fox because they harbor these views. That’s a chicken-and-egg question best left to philosophers. The two are probably self-reinforcing. Either way, if Fox’s explicit goal has been to create a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating alternate reality, as many have alleged, it appears that when it comes to Americans’ views of Muslims, the network may be succeeding brilliantly