JOHN EMERSON ONLY GETS AT PART OF THE PROBLEM

He writes about low-information voters who vote conservative in this Open Left post:

Low-information voters decide how to vote based on ambient information (i.e., free media and local scuttlebutt), and the free media are predominantly right wing.

That doesn't explain WHY they believe the wingnut lies, however. In part, it's because of their personalities and in part because of their preferred cognitive style:

Talk Radio, Top Volume On the Right; Bill O'Reilly's Debut Points Up The
Dearth of Liberal Voices; [FINAL Edition]
Paul Farhi. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: May 8, 2002. pg. C.01

O'Reilly thinks those left of center can't get the job done on the air. That's not a knock on their ideology, he says, but a comment on the liberal tendency toward inclusiveness and reflectiveness -- both deadly qualities in a medium that talk-show producer Randall Bloomquist describes as "the World Wrestling Federation with ideas."

"Conservative people tend to see the world in black and white terms, good and evil," says O'Reilly in an interview. "Liberals see grays. In any talk format, you have to pound home a strong point of view. If you're not providing controversy and excitement, people won't listen, or watch."