Another Politifact Misstep
Yesterday, Politifact rated a quote from Marco Rubio: “The majority of Americans are conservatives.” as “Mostly True”
However, their own in-depth analysis of the numbers show the statement _and_ its context are False. From Politifact’s analysis:
For 2011, Gallup found that the largest group of Americans identify as conservative, at 40 percent. Another 35 percent identify as moderate, while 21 percent identify as liberal.
and
More Americans than ever identify as political independents, at 40 percent. Republicans don’t even come in at second — that would be the Democratic Party, claiming the allegiance of 31 percent of Americans. Republicans get third place, with 27 percent claiming the GOP label.
and worst:
And here’s another wrinkle: When you ask people which party they lean toward, the independents split up so that the country is almost evenly divided. For the year of 2011, Gallup reported that 45 percent of Americans identified as Republicans or leaned that way, while 45 percent identified as Democrats or leaned that way.
At the very most, Conservatives, in the three-category division of Conservative/Moderate/Liberal identification have a plurality, but they are nowhere near a majority. That makes his statement both false on its face, and in the context of the general leanings of the US population. Yet it is rated as “Mostly True”
Rachel Maddow had something to say about this yesterday, too.
I can’t disagree with her.
8 comments
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Frank says: