Radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted a story from Reuters about health care Wednesday, calling it "propaganda at its most blatant" for masking Obamacare's continued unpopularity with a misleading headline.
The story was entitled "Americans increasingly prefer Democrats on health care: Reuters / Ipsos poll" and it read in part:
Americans increasingly think Democrats have a better plan for healthcare than Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after the White House announced that more people than expected had signed up for the "Obamacare" health plan.
Nearly one-third of respondents in the online survey released on Tuesday said they prefer Democrats' plan, policy or approach to healthcare, compared to just 18 percent for Republicans. This marks both an uptick in support for Democrats and a slide for Republicans since a similar poll in February.
"This, folks, is the propaganda machine at its most blatant," Limbaugh said. "You look at this headline and if you read the headline, which is what most people read, you're supposed to believe that more and more people now love Obamacare and more and more people think Democrats have all the answers. But that's not what the article says at all!"
For starters, Limbaugh said it was an online poll, which rendered it meaningless, and there were only 799 votes in this "so-called sample."
"Most importantly, what does it mean that nearly a third of the online voters preferred Democrat plans for health care?" he asked. "That gave us a headline 'Americans increasingly prefer Democrats on health care.' It is still a majority, but the one-third is a little bit more than it was in their previous so-called poll. So the number of people who 'vote' Democratic increased a little and that becomes their [headline.] But they don't prefer. It's just one-third of voters."
Low-information voters on websites like Yahoo!, where the story was featured prominently Wednesday, would soak it up, Limbaugh said.