NEW POLL: 53 Percent Blame Fox News for Spread of ‘Extremist Ideologies Like White Supremacy And Anti-Semitism’ – 45% Blame CNN

A solid 53 percent majority of Americans blame Fox News for the spread of “extremist ideologies like white supremacy and anti-Semitism,” more than rival networks MSNBC and CNN.

The racist and anti-Semitic “Great Replacement” ideology has been in the news since the suspect in last week’s terrifying racist attack in Buffalo — an 18-year-old White man named Payton Gendron — said in an online manifesto that he was motivated by replacement theory.

Fox News and Tucker Carlson have come under sharper criticism following the shooting for promoting the ideology.

A New York Times investigation published shortly before the massacre showed that “in more than 400 episodes of his show,” Carlson “amplified the notion that Democratic politicians and other assorted elites want to force demographic change through immigration, and his producers sometimes scoured his show’s raw material from the same dark corners of the internet that the Buffalo suspect did,” according to NYT.

According to a new Morning Consult poll, the criticism is sinking in with most Americans.

Respondents to the poll were asked “How responsible, if at all, do you believe each of the following are for the spread of extremist ideologies, such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism? Fox News.”

Among all respondents, 53 percent said Fox News is “Very responsible” (33%) or “Somewhat responsible” (21%) for the spread of extremist ideologies such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Just 30 percent say Fox News is “Not too responsible” (14%) or “Not responsible at all” (16%) for the spread of extremist ideologies such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Fox was the only cable network to achieve a majority on this question, with minorities of 45 percent and 40 percent, respectively, blaming CNN and MSNBC for the spread of extremist ideologies such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism. There were predictable partisan splits, but even among Republicans, fewer than half (47%) said Fox is “Not too responsible” (20%) or “Not responsible at all” (27%) for the spread of extremist ideologies such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Coincidentally, the share of Americans who blame Fox News for the spread of these ideologies is identical to the 53% of Fox News viewers who said they agree that “a group of people in this country are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants and people of color who share their political views” in another recent poll.

Among individuals, former President Donald Trump, was the only figure to achieve a majority, with 54 percent saying Trump is “Very responsible” (40%) or “Somewhat responsible” (14%) for the spread of extremist ideologies such as white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Pluralities also blamed Tucker Carlson by a 40 to 21 percent margin, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow by a slim 29 to 27 percent, with the rest responding “Don’t know/no opinion.”

But the greatest share of blame in this poll was for “News media” and “social media companies,” at 67 percent and 64 percent, respectively. The only other entity to crack 50 percent was the Republican Party, at 50% to 35%. A Minority blamed the Democratic Party by 41 percent to 44 percent.

Carlson offered a lengthy defense of his rhetoric following the Buffalo shooting.

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