Post by notknowmuch on Jun 1, 2013 4:55:51 GMT -7
How can you tell a politician is lying? His mouth is moving--particularly if it's a Republican pol.
CMPA: Media Fact-Checker Says Republicans Lie More
CMPA: Media Fact-Checker Says Republicans Lie More
PolitiFact rated 32% of Republican claims as “false” or “pants on fire,” compared to 11% of Democratic claims – a 3 to 1 margin. Conversely, Politifact rated 22% of Democratic claims as “entirely true” compared to 11% of Republican claims – a 2 to 1 margin.
A majority of Democratic statements (54%) were rated as mostly or entirely true, compared to only 18% of Republican statements. Conversely, a majority of Republican statements (52%) were rated as mostly or entirely false, compared to only 24% of Democratic statements.
Despite controversies over Obama administration statements regarding Benghazi, the IRS and the Associated Press, Republicans have continued to fare worse than Democrats, with 60% of their claims rated as false so far this month (May 1 – May 22), compared to 29% of Democratic statements – a 2 to 1 margin.
This study’s findings are similar to those of a previous CMPA study, which found that PolitiFact gave more negative ratings to the Romney campaign than the Obama campaign during the 2012 presidential election campaign.
In comparing ratings of Republican vs. Democratic claims, we included assertions from party allies which were part of current policy debates. For example, the study period featured a highly partisan debate over gun control legislation. Ratings of claims about gun control by National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice-President Wayne La Pierre were included in the Republican tally.
In tabulating our findings, we group “false” and “pants on fire” ratings together, because they both represent statements that PolitiFact describes as “not accurate.” PolitiFact reserves the “pants on fire” ratings for statements that are also judged to be “ridiculous,” but it is not clear that these represent a greater degree of inaccuracy than simply “false” statements. All other categories can be considered to represent an ordinal scale, in which each category is less accurate than the one that preceded it, e.g., “mostly true” v. “half true.”
A majority of Democratic statements (54%) were rated as mostly or entirely true, compared to only 18% of Republican statements. Conversely, a majority of Republican statements (52%) were rated as mostly or entirely false, compared to only 24% of Democratic statements.
Despite controversies over Obama administration statements regarding Benghazi, the IRS and the Associated Press, Republicans have continued to fare worse than Democrats, with 60% of their claims rated as false so far this month (May 1 – May 22), compared to 29% of Democratic statements – a 2 to 1 margin.
This study’s findings are similar to those of a previous CMPA study, which found that PolitiFact gave more negative ratings to the Romney campaign than the Obama campaign during the 2012 presidential election campaign.
In comparing ratings of Republican vs. Democratic claims, we included assertions from party allies which were part of current policy debates. For example, the study period featured a highly partisan debate over gun control legislation. Ratings of claims about gun control by National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice-President Wayne La Pierre were included in the Republican tally.
In tabulating our findings, we group “false” and “pants on fire” ratings together, because they both represent statements that PolitiFact describes as “not accurate.” PolitiFact reserves the “pants on fire” ratings for statements that are also judged to be “ridiculous,” but it is not clear that these represent a greater degree of inaccuracy than simply “false” statements. All other categories can be considered to represent an ordinal scale, in which each category is less accurate than the one that preceded it, e.g., “mostly true” v. “half true.”