Media fact-checking organization PolitiFact.com has rated Republican claims as false three times as often as Democratic claims during the past four months of President Obama’s second term, despite a record number of scandals rocking the Democratic president.
PolitiFact rated 52 percent of Republican claims as “mostly false,” “false” or “pants on fire,” compared to 24 percent of Democratic claims. Conversely, it rated 54 percent of Democratic claims as “true” or “mostly true,” compared to only 18 percent of Republican claims.
A study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) examined 100 statements involving factual claims by Democrats and Republicans and PolitiFact’s findings. The study found that PolitiFact rated Republican claims as ‘false’ three times more than Democratic claims; and it rated Democratic claims as ‘true’ twice as often as Republican claims.
An example of a statement rated “pants on fire,” which is when PolitiFact deems a claim to be ridiculous, is Michele Bachmann’s statement that the IRS is running a ‘huge national database’ with ‘personal, intimate’ details.
Despite controversies surrounding the Obama administration in May, Republicans have continued to score worse than Democrats in terms of the accuracy of their claims, with 60 percent rated as false so far this month, compared to 29 percent of Democratic statements.
“While Republicans see a credibility gap in the Obama administration, PolitiFact rates Republicans as the less credible party,” said Dr. Robert Lichter, CPMA president.
Similarly, a previous CMPA study found that during the 2012 presidential election, PolitiFact rated statements made by the Romney campaign as false twice as often as statements made by the Obama campaign.
However, it may also be important to note that PolitiFact has been accused of misrepresention in the past. In 2012, PolitiFact’s ‘Lie of the Year’ turned out to be true.
