PolitiFact Scores 2024

How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!

Mark Twain, Autobiographical dictation (1906), Mark Twain, Volume 2

Every four years Iffy.news compiles PolitiFact-checks to rate the credibility of political people. This year, as in the past: Comedians spoke the most truth. Social media spread the most lies. Pols were more truthful than pundits, Dems more than the GOP, and women slightly more than men.

PolitiFact made fact-checking famous. They’ve rated about 30K statements by 5K people and organizations. Iffy uses their ratings (with permission) to generate a credibility score. We convert each PolitiFact rating into a number, between 1 (True) and 0 (False). We then average the ratings for each person:

• 1.000
  means their statements were all True.
• 0.500
  means their statements averaged Half True.
• 0.000
  means their statements were all False.

In the tables below, the Checks column is the number of times PolitiFact rated a person’s statements. Score is their average PolitiFact-rating (as converted by Iffy, see methodology).

The five most PolitiFact-checked people all were or wanted to be POTUS: Donald Trump (1,061 checks), Barack Obama (603), Joe Biden (314), Hillary Clinton (301), and Mitt Romney (208). Here is this year’s top-of-the-ticket:

PolitiFact scores of 2024 POTUS/VP candidates

Candidate	Party	Checks	Score
Kamala Harris	Democrat	62	0.484
Tim-Walz	Democrat	6	0.375
Donald Trump	Republican	1061	0.182
J.D. Vance	Republican	21	0.176

What’s the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like we had entire training courses.

Mike Pompeo (U.S. Secretary of State), Address at Texas A&M University (2019)

Funny because it’s true

Comedians were the most truthful group in 2016, 2020, and again this year. John Oliver scored .80, Stephen Colbert .75, Doonesbury .67, Bill Maher .53, and Jon Stewart .39, for an average first-place .63 score. Independents (.55), such as Bernie Sanders and Ralph Nader, came in second. Dems (.52) were third followed by print journalists (.51, down from their 2016 high of .63).

PolitiFact 2024 scores by media or political type

Group	Sources	Checks	Score
Comedians	5	39	0.627
Independents	9	217	0.552
Democrats	406	4944	0.515
Print Media	13	137	0.505
Politicians	779	11405	0.454
Journalists	25	173	0.438
Females	216	2108	0.436
People	952	12526	0.432
Males	737	10422	0.430
Unions	3	21	0.427
Advocacy Orgs	65	416	0.397
Pundits	150	5582	0.396
Republicans	493	7387	0.375
Party Orgs	35	558	0.374
PACs	24	177	0.340
TV News	51	442	0.335
Organizations	175	8060	0.313
Talk-show Hosts	39	378	0.286
Activists	11	54	0.226
Talk Radio	14	100	0.108
Websites	23	121	0.021
Social Media	12	6710	0.015
Sources is each group’s total number of people or organizations with 3+ checks (enough to show a pattern). Individuals are often in >1 Group, e.g., Journalist, Media: Print, and Female. A public spreadsheet has the raw data and groupings.

The average credibility score for all sources continues to slide, from .50 in 2016 to .44 in 2020 to .41 now. Democrats (.52) still lead Republicans (.38). Women (.44), men (.43), politicians (.45), and pundits (.40) were near-equally veracity challenged. People (.43) were more accurate than organizations (.31). Unions (.42) beat out advocacy groups (.40), party committees (.37), and PACs (.34). TV news fared poorly (.35). Talk radio/podcasts (.11) failed completely.

The truth is always an insult or a joke. Lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone’s comfort.

Katherine Dunn, Geek Love (1989)

Anti-social media

Standalone websites (.021) — i.e., not part of another media, like TV or print — were astoundingly untruthful. But it was social media that harbored the biggest blowhards. The social sites scored last-place in 2020 (0.50) and remain there today, with an even lower score (.015). This includes the abysmal averages of Facebook (.04), X (.02). Instagram (.01), TikTok (.01), and YouTube (.00).

Assume everything on social media is wrong. Based on PolitiFact ratings, it almost always is.

So, to get to the truth: Heed comedians. Tune out talk radio. Ignore any utterance by parties, PACs, and advocacy orgs (progressive and conservative). And pay absolutely no attention to social media.

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)

No news is good news

PolitiFact 2024 scores of news outlets

Outlet	People	Checks	Score
New York Times	4	36	0.68
MSNBC	11	116	0.47
CNN	8	47	0.43
ABC News	3	15	0.36
Fox News	25	258	0.24
Newsmax	3	10	0.17
Outlets with 3+ PolitiFact-checked people (3+ claims each). Score is their average, generated by Iffy.news from PolitiFact ratings.

The table above lists the comparative credibility of news media (with at least three PolitiFact-checked people). New York Times writers topped the pack with a .68 score, the average of David Brooks (.80), Paul Krugman (.70), Nicholas Kristof (.70), and Gail Collins (.53).

Kudos to CNN’s Jake Tapper (.80), the highest-scoring broadcast journalist. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd (0.78) was a close second.

All TV news channels scored under .50. That doesn’t mean more than half their reports were false. But it does mean more than half their reports checked by PolitiFact were rated mostly or totally false. It’s no surprise that mass media has trust issues, especially because it funds and spreads fake news.

Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.

H. L. Mencken, A Little Book in C Major (1916)

Talking heads

The next table lists the credibility scores of 150 well-known pols and pundits (selected by Iffy.news), people either in the news or in the news biz (with 3+ claims checked by PolitiFact).

PolitiFact 2024 scores of 150 newsmakers

Name	Group	State	Checks	Score
David Brooks	Journo		5	0.800
John Oliver	Host		10	0.800
Jake Tapper	Host		5	0.800
Chuck Todd	Host		9	0.778
Stephen Colbert	Host		5	0.750
Jeff Flake	GOP	AZ	5	0.750
Jay Inslee	Dem	WA	4	0.750
Sheldon Whitehouse	Dem	RI	25	0.710
Amy Klobuchar	Dem	MN	20	0.700
Julián Castro	Dem	TX	19	0.697
Paul Krugman	Journo		18	0.694
David Plouffe	Dem		4	0.688
Michelle Obama	Dem	IL	11	0.682
Mark Kelly	Dem	AZ	7	0.679
Joaquin Castro	Dem	TX	9	0.667
Rob Portman	GOP	OH	48	0.654
Donna Brazile	Dem		15	0.650
Elizabeth Warren	Dem	MA	36	0.646
Andrew Cuomo	Dem	NY	38	0.645
Cory Booker	Dem	NJ	33	0.629
Kathy Hochul	Dem	NY	9	0.628
Kirsten Gillibrand	Dem	NY	21	0.626
Jim Jordan	GOP	OH	10	0.625
Cecile Richards	Dem	TX	4	0.625
Beto O’Rourke	Dem	TX	33	0.614
Robert Reich	Dem	CA	5	0.600
David Axelrod	Dem		18	0.597
Jimmy Carter	Dem	GA	9	0.583
Al Gore	Dem	TN	6	0.583
Van Jones	Dem		6	0.583
Jon Ossoff	Dem	GA	6	0.583
Raphael Warnock	Dem	GA	9	0.583
Bill Clinton	Dem	AR	44	0.578
Hillary Clinton	Dem	NY	301	0.578
Barack Obama	Dem	IL	603	0.574
Gavin Newsom	Dem	CA	30	0.572
Chuck Grassley	GOP	IA	8	0.563
Bill Kristol	Journo		4	0.563
Chris Wallace	Journo		4	0.563
Bernie Sanders	Ind	VT	176	0.561
Pete Buttigieg	Dem	IA	22	0.545
Michael Steele	GOP	MD	8	0.538
Thomas Perez	Dem	MD	7	0.536
Elise Stefanik	GOP	NY	7	0.536
Brian Kemp	GOP	GA	9	0.528
Bill Maher	Ind		10	0.525
Chris Murphy	Dem	CT	13	0.519
George Will	Journo		33	0.512
Stacey Abrams	Dem	GA	11	0.500
Chris Coons	Dem	DE	4	0.500
Val Demings	Dem	FL	6	0.500
Don Lemon	Host		4	0.500
Andrea Mitchell	Host		4	0.500
Jon Tester	Dem	MT	5	0.500
Chris Christie	GOP	NJ	108	0.495
Rand Paul	GOP	KY	63	0.494
Kamala Harris	Dem	CA	62	0.484
John Kerry	Dem	MA	14	0.482
Joni Ernst	GOP	IA	13	0.481
Dianne Feinstein	Dem	CA	8	0.469
Lawrence O’Donnell	Host		8	0.469
Charles Schumer	Dem	NY	27	0.469
Mitch McConnell	GOP	KY	36	0.463
Lindsey Graham	GOP	SC	17	0.456
Claire McCaskill	Dem	MO	19	0.447
Marco Rubio	GOP	FL	173	0.447
Rachel Maddow	Host		29	0.445
Michael Moore	Journo	MI	18	0.444
Joe Scarborough	GOP	FL	13	0.442
Joe Biden	Dem	DE	314	0.441
Karl Rove	GOP	TX	17	0.441
Mitt Romney	GOP	MA	208	0.440
Michelle Malkin	Journo		4	0.438
Eric Swalwell	Dem	CA	4	0.438
Greg Abbott	GOP	TX	81	0.437
Megyn Kelly	Host		7	0.429
Ron Johnson	GOP	WI	88	0.422
Glenn Youngkin	GOP	VA	14	0.421
Tammy Duckworth	Dem	IL	6	0.417
Ivanka Trump	GOP	NY	9	0.417
Mike Huckabee	GOP	AR	42	0.413
Rick Scott	GOP	FL	184	0.398
Nancy Pelosi	Dem	CA	55	0.397
Jon Stewart	Host		8	0.394
Dick Cheney	GOP	WY	17	0.391
Thom Tillis	GOP	NC	16	0.391
Sarah Palin	GOP	AK	65	0.379
Tulsi Gabbard	Dem	HI	9	0.378
Karine Jean-Pierre	Dem		4	0.375
Tim Walz	GOP	MN	6	0.375
Rudy Giuliani	GOP	NY	53	0.374
Bill O’Reilly	Host		23	0.365
Liz Cheney	GOP	WY	4	0.350
Ron DeSantis	GOP	FL	68	0.350
Al Sharpton	Dem	NY	5	0.350
Nikki Haley	GOP	SC	27	0.348
Jeff Sessions	GOP	AL	23	0.348
Newt Gingrich	GOP	GA	83	0.347
Mike Pence	GOP	LN	75	0.327
Tim Scott	GOP	SC	10	0.325
Diamond and Silk	GOP		4	0.313
James Carville	Dem	LA	4	0.313
Joy Reid	Host		4	0.313
Tom Cotton	GOP	AR	27	0.311
Whoopi Goldberg	Host		6	0.300
Ted Cruz	GOP	TX	159	0.295
Sean Hannity	Host		33	0.289
Eric Bolling	Host		7	0.286
Lou Dobbs	Host		6	0.275
Kayleigh McEnany	GOP		10	0.265
Matt Gaetz	GOP	FL	15	0.250
Mike Johnson	GOP	LA	5	0.250
Devin Nunes	GOP	CA	4	0.250
Ilhan Omar	Dem	MN	6	0.250
Steve Scalise	GOP	LA	5	0.230
Corey Lewandowski	GOP	NH	5	0.200
Vivek Ramaswamy	GOP		11	0.200
Ann Coulter	GOP		16	0.197
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez	Dem	NY	13	0.185
Kellyanne Conway	GOP		11	0.182
Donald Trump	GOP	NY	1061	0.182
J.D. Vance	GOP	OH	21	0.176
Kanye West	Music		4	0.163
Kari Lake	GOP		12	0.158
Kevin McCarthy	GOP	CA	29	0.138
Dana Loesch	GOP	TX	4	0.125
Tommy Tuberville	GOP	AL	4	0.125
Sarah Huckabee Sanders	GOP	AR	6	0.108
Maria Bartiromo	Host		5	0.100
Michael Savage	Host		4	0.100
Candace Owens	GOP		8	0.094
Laura Ingraham	Host		13	0.088
Louie Gohmert	GOP	TX	14	0.086
Donald Trump Jr.	GOP	NY	20	0.083
Brit Hume	Journo		4	0.063
Vladimir Putin	Russia		6	0.050
Tucker Carlson	Host		31	0.045
Dana Perino	GOP		4	0.038
Jesse Watters	Host		7	0.036
William Barr	GOP		5	0.030
Greg Gutfeld	GOP		5	0.030
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.	Dem		9	0.022
Elon Musk	Biz		5	0.000
Jeanine Pirro	GOP		4	0.000
Tim Sheehy	GOP	MT	4	0.000
Eric Trump	GOP		5	-0.010
Brian Kilmeade	Journo		5	-0.020
Lauren Boebert	GOP		4	-0.025
Marjorie Taylor Greene	GOP		8	-0.025
Alex Jones	Host	TX	8	-0.050
Well-known political people with 3+ checks. A negative number for “Pants” ratings makes below-zero scores possible.

Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.

Ernest Hemingway (1954)

Methodology

Since its start in 2007, PolitiFact has rated the accuracy of 29,962 statements made by 4,771 organizations and persons. This post uses only those with three or more PolitiFact-checks (enough to establish a trend): a total of 20,582 fact checks for 1,126 people or organizations.

The above results are from PolitiFact data gathered in mid-October 2024 (spreadsheet). Every person or organization score gets a score calculated by assigning a number value to each of their truth-ratings, using the levels listed below. Their score is the average of all their PolitiFact ratings.

PolitiFact ratings as scores

Rating	PolitiFact description	Score
True	The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.	1.00
Mostly True	The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.	0.75
Half True	The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.	0.50
Mostly False	The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.	0.25
False	The statement is not accurate.	0.00
Pants on Fire	The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.	-0.10
The negative “Pants” number makes below-zero scores possible.

PolitiFact has proven an essential tool in preserving democracy. If you want to keep politics and facts together, please support PolitiFact with a tax-deductible contribution.

Each day, PolitiFact journalists look for statements to fact-check. We read transcripts, speeches, news stories, press releases, and campaign brochures. We watch TV and scan social media. Readers send us suggestions via email to truthometer@politifact.com; we often fact-check statements submitted by readers. Because we can’t feasibly check all claims, we select the most newsworthy and significant ones.

PolitiFact’s methodology for independent fact-checking

Thanks to Josef Verbanac and Claire Golding for editing and to Aaron Sharockman for PolitiFact permission. This reports updates the 2020 three-part series and the original written for RJI. The top image is from a William Jennings Bryan campaign poster, “Shall the People Rule?” (circa 1900), at the Library of Congress.