Fox News' Sean Hannity says Americans 'dying to get back to work,' but polls say otherwise
Fox News host Sean Hannity said that Americans are "dying to get back to work" on both his talk radio and television shows on Wednesday, despite evidence pointing to the contrary.
The comment was made while Mr Hannity was discussing pockets of anti-lockdown protests organised by far-right Facebook groups.
During his comments on his radio show, Mr Hannity said that in Georgia, the governor has said he would reopen gyms and salons, noting that going to a salon would put people in close proximity to one another, and said that while he would do it, people should talk to "their own doctors" before visiting those businesses.
Later, on his television show, Mr Hannity - who once said Democrats were using the virus "hoax" as a bludgeon to attack Donald Trump - accused Democrats of politicizing the pandemic, and again said that "Americans are dying to get back to work."
Despite Mr Hannity's claims, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Sunday found that 58 per cent of registered voters said they were concerned about loosening lockdown restrictions, while only 32 per cent were worried restrictions would stay in place for too long.
Mr Hannity's rhetoric and the part it has played in worsening the pandemic recently became the subject of academic study.
Earlier this week, a group of scholars from the University of Chicago released a study suggesting that Mr Hannity's initial downplaying of the dangers of the virus may have led to greater numbers of infection in areas where he had significant viewership.
The study found that areas where Fox News viewers more often tuned into Mr Hannity's show than to Tucker Carlson's show - coronavirus cases were more widespread.
According to the study, Mr Carlson reported on the virus more frequently and treated it as a more serious threat than Mr Hannity.
Mr Hannity's tune on the protests may be changing soon, however, if Fox News executives have anything to say about the matter.
NPR reported that on Monday, Fox News President Jay Wallace sent a directive to Fox anchors to remind them to practice social distancing.
The same day Mr Wallace's guidance went out, Fox News host Harris Faulkner interrupted a guest who insisted that protesters were not violating safety guidelines. Mr Faulkner pointed out that the network was airing footage at that moment that showed protesters well within six feet of each other and many who were not wearing masks.
The Facebook groups and websites fuelling the protests - often containing the words "against excessive quarantine" - have largely been linked to a single group of brothers, the Dorrs. The brothers are behind many anti-gun control sites and, according to a 2019 story from Cleveland.com on the men, seek "to stir the pot and make as much animosity as they can, and then raise money off that animosity
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