Study Confirms That Republicans Lie More Than Democrats

Pray for Fox News
“Let their lying lips be silenced.”

According to a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, Republicans were found to be significantly more dishonest in their public statements than Democrats. The CMPA examined 100 statements by members of both parties that were fact-checked by PolitiFact.com between January 20, to May 22, of 2013. Here is a summary of their findings:

  • 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.

The results of this research may appear to be common sense that any informed person would have known prior to the study, but having a bona fide analysis conducted by a neutral, academic source affirm what is observably true is useful in the ongoing debate over the veracity of our leaders.

This study corroborates my own reporting during the presidential election last year that showed Mitt Romney spewing falsehoods at a far greater rate than the Obama campaign. He won PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year” award and set a record for assaults on the truth by earning 84 citations of falsehoods (41% in all), 19 of which were “Pants-on-Fire.” But then what should we expect from a party that proudly proclaimed that “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”

Advertisement:

12 thoughts on “Study Confirms That Republicans Lie More Than Democrats

  1. Liar liar pants on fire. See ya in the 2014 elections, losers

  2. It’s funny when we are reduced to spending tens of thousands of dollars to tell the other guy he is a liar. The playground of Washington is so cute!

    • I doubt they spent that much considering this wasn’t a government study, but one done by a group voluntarily. Not to mention the group is non-partisan. You would know that if you clicked on the link bolded at the beginning of the article.

    • Nice try trying to dismiss the study as petty and partisan, but your post is a failure. This was an academic study done by a nonpartisan research organization, not something paid for by the Democratic Party. Besides, if it had been politically motivated, it would have come out BEFORE the election, not after.

  3. Here this should help clear that up for you….

    “The Center for Media and Public Affairs is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization, which is affiliated with George Mason University. It has monitored news coverage of every presidential election and every new administration since 1988. For CMPA findings on the Obama administration see: cmpa.com”

    • Don’t you think it’s kind of silly to argue and defend the results of a study that states both sides lie, but one does it more than the other. Seems like the bar is set pretty low for representation – is that argument meant to convince everyone Democrats are better because they are only 1/3 as likely to lie as a republican and the tell the whole truth 1 out of every 5 times (+/-) – twice as much as a republican at 1 out of every 10 times (+/-). Kind of dumb, isn’t it? We as a people are really scraping the bottom of the barrel – don’t you think?

      • You’re funny, Steve: “…is that argument meant to convince everyone Democrats are better because they are only 1/3 as likely to lie as a republican”?

        Yes, that’s exactly what that argument is meant to do. Most people would agree that the party that lies three times as often is not as good. If you’re point is that no one in government should ever lie — Please, grow up.

        • Come on Mark – is this really about who lies the least? Really? I’ve not been a big supporter of the Republican party, but if they both lie, then I think you can call them all liars.

          As a supporter of “good” government – I would think you would be interested in a decent group of people representing us in an honest way – wouldn’t you? This really isn’t meant to be an argument as we really should be on the same side with respect to honesty – exactly what do you care about? I’m trying to figure it out and believe it or not, I actually assign good intentions to you – but sometimes it just isn’t clear.

        • Hey, here is another question – when exactly can we trust them if they are lying whenever? You are telling me I should accept their lying as reality here – yes, I get they lie, but do we really need to just accept it and go on blindly following? You’re not selling your perspective on the greatness of government too well with that response, but hey, we all make mistakes (I know I make plenty of them). I guess we all value honesty differently and clearly you don’t rank it too high on your list of important attributes.

          • First of all, I’ve never made a case for “the greatness of government.” That’s your projection. Secondly, I obviously value honesty more than you because I want to see more of it. You think it’s all the same if there are ten lies or a hundred.

            But if you want to continue to pretend to be so dense that you don’t recognize that politicians lie then I simply can’t be bothered to respond to you.

  4. Not that this is not true, but I have found Politifact to be inaccurate and misleading. For me they are not a reliable source of information bit rather a source that is supposed to look reliable. I would definitely trust Center for Media and Public affairs more than Politifact.

  5. This is the left lying again. Fox will always be bigger than any liberal news!

Comments are closed.