Thousands of people, in an effort to stay informed, turned to radio as their source for news. They could listen to a radio while driving or at work so instead of filling the air with music, they found a source for news. The trouble is that many found an opinion network that billed itself as a news outlet, Fox News.
Since these people were busy driving, working, etc. they were not actively listening, not really hearing the discussions or reasoning behind the various assertions being made. They took away from these broadcasts mainly the points that were repeated ad infinitum, eg. "tax cuts create jobs", "cutting taxes creates jobs", "create jobs by cutting taxes". While these bullet points were pounded into the listeners heads the mechanics or reasoning behind them was lost.
As a result, we now have thousands of Fox loyalists who vehemently oppose unions, although many can not articulate exactly why, but have no problem with Chambers of Commerce.
They cannot stand someone getting something for nothing so are against food stamps and welfare but think corporate subsidies and tax loopholes are okay.
They oppose the redistribution of wealth and are against unemployment benefits but have no problem with bank bailouts or the Fed's QE.
All of these opinions come wrapped up in the flag. If you listen to us you'll be a better American, a patriot, a defender of the constitution. Except for the one sentence of the second amendment, most don't have a clue what's in the constitution and couldn't comprehend that a Mexican or Columbian is considered an American. The underlying message that sells the entire package is one of hatred and mistrust, "It's not your fault you're in such bad shape, it's liberals giving away your tax dollars to people who don't work, it's immigrants taking your job and not paying their fair share"
The average listener can see or thinks he sees examples of this everywhere, while the big money transfers at the corporate level are beyond his understanding. They see the stat that shows people getting jobs just before their benefits run out as lazy bums watching TV and not getting a job until they have to and not the reality of desperate people grabbing any low paying job just to have something before they lose their benefits. They believe the mouthpieces of big business when they tell them the reducing unemployment benefits will get people to work quicker but cannot see how this will actually force all wages lower for all workers.
These people think of themselves as informed because of the volume of "news" they listen too and because, as they have been told, they don't listen to any other news outlets, all of which are biased.