Practically everyone's heard toxic rumors

Ninety-four percent of adult Americans have heard at least one of the ridiculous and false rumors chasing John McCain and Barack Obama on the campaign trail, according to a Scripps poll.

Have you heard that John McCain was brainwashed while a prisoner of war in Vietnam? Or that he's become senile or fathered a black baby?

And how about that Barack Obama secretly is a Muslim? Or he is the Antichrist from the Book of Revelation? Or that he refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance?

About 19 of every 20 adult Americans have heard at least one of these six obviously false rumors about the major presidential candidates, according to a first-of-its kind national survey of 1,015 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

"Rumors are a very powerful form of communication. They resonate our fears," said rumor expert Michael Kamins, a marketing professor at New York's Stoneybrook University.

"The good news is that they are only going to influence people who are indifferent or undecided in the presidential race. Since there aren't many people like that right now, rumors aren't going to make much difference," he said.

The pervasiveness of ugly rumors this year is remarkable. Only 6 percent of the adults in the poll said they hadn't heard any of the six rumors included in the study. These six rumors were chosen for the poll because they have been widely acknowledged and refuted by the campaigns and independent experts.

Not surprisingly, Republicans were more likely than other voters to hear false things about Obama, while Democrats disproportionately heard the worst about McCain.

The poll found that anti-Obama rumors were more pervasive than attacks on McCain. Ninety-two percent said they had heard at least one anti-Obama rumor compared to 53 percent who had heard at least one slander against McCain.

Obama launched a "Stop the Smears" campaign on the Internet to refute rumors. Obama strategists did not want a repeat of the 2004 election when Democrat John Kerry was slow to respond to "swift boat" attacks that his service during the Vietnam War was dishonorable.

"So we made a concerted effort this time to ensure that this doesn't happen again," said Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro, vowing to not let "smears and false attacks go unchallenged."

McCain's campaign had to announce that running mate Sarah Palin's unmarried daughter, Bristol, was pregnant after rumors arose that Palin's fifth child actually belonged to her daughter.