When President Donald Trump's favorite right-wing television program "Fox & Friends" launched a Twitter poll on Tuesday asking whether the benefits of Medicare for All "outweigh the costs," they likely didn't expect 73 percent of the nearly 32,000 respondents to answer yes—but that's precisely what happened.
"Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for all' bill estimated to cost $32.6 trillion, new study says. Would the benefits outweigh the costs?" the survey asked, referencing a recent Koch Brothers-funded study that found Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) universal healthcare program would save $2 trillion over ten years—a fact that "Fox & Friends" conveniently neglected to mention in both its poll and its coverage of the new analysis.
Despite the misleading framing "Fox & Friends" deployed, the results of the unscientific survey were overwhelming.
Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for all' bill estimated to cost $32.6 trillion, new study says. Would the benefits outweigh the costs?
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) July 31, 2018
Bonnie Castillo, executive director of National Nurses United, responded to the poll results on Twitter, when just 13,000 people had voted:
13,000 people participated in Fox & Friends #MedicareForAll poll - a majority say YES to healthcare for all!
THE BENEFITS: Guaranteed medical care, dental, vision and hearing, for all Americans, free at the point-of-care.
THE SAVINGS: $2 trillion over 10 years. #TuesdayThoughts https://t.co/ZyrNho79UM
— Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) July 31, 2018
The failed attempt by "Fox & Friends" to falsely document Medicare for All as unpopular—despite recent surveys showing that progressive policies like single-payer are experiencing unprecedented support, including among Republicans—fits an emerging pattern of right-wing media outlets falling face-first in their attempts to discredit commonsense, straightforward, and bold ideas.
As Common Dreams reported, right-wing Daily Caller editor Virginia Kruta attended a rally last week featuring a speech by democratic socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In an appearance on Fox News, Kruta recounted the "truly terrifying" experience of hearing Ocasio-Cortez advocate policies that "everybody wants, especially if you're a parent."
"They talk about education for your kids, healthcare for your kids, the things that you want," Kruta said of democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez.
Responding to Kruta's remarks, journalist Sarah Jaffe asked, "Does Fox know that they're unwittingly creating commercials for socialism?"
