It's actually pretty well documented that not only do conservative politicians lie more, but also conservative voters believe more lies.
This makes me wonder how often those politicians also believe what they are saying, meaning they aren't technically "lying", but instead they simply believe something demonstrably incorrect more often than not.
There is also the issue of a few outliers screwing the averages. For instance, since Trump and Pence rarely open their mouths without saying something at least partly false, are they (and a handful of others like them) dragging down their entire parties average, while most conservatives don't lie any more than an average liberal politician? Possibly.
This isn't just an opinion, though. I have evidence:
Why conservatives are more susceptible to lies
Conservatives tell twice as many "Pants on Fire" lies, and half agan as many "partial lies" as liberals do
Pretty much every fact checking site will give you the same basic statistics.
And honestly, the psychology behind the why of this is fascinating.
And if you don't buy Politifact then there is this:
Conservatives are more likely to attack factchecking sites than liberals
University of Minnesota political science professor Eric Ostermeier did an analysis of 511 selected PolitiFact stories issued from January 2010 through January 2011, stating that "PolitiFact has generally devoted an equal amount of time analyzing Republicans (191 statements, 50.4 percent) as they have Democrats (179 stories, 47.2 percent)". Republican officeholders were considered by Politifact to have made substantially more "false" or "pants on fire" statements than their Democratic counterparts. Of 98 statements PolitiFact judged "false" or "pants on fire" from partisan political figures, 74 came from Republicans (76 percent) compared to 22 from Democrats (22 percent) during the selected period reviewed.
This makes me wonder how often those politicians also believe what they are saying, meaning they aren't technically "lying", but instead they simply believe something demonstrably incorrect more often than not.
There is also the issue of a few outliers screwing the averages. For instance, since Trump and Pence rarely open their mouths without saying something at least partly false, are they (and a handful of others like them) dragging down their entire parties average, while most conservatives don't lie any more than an average liberal politician? Possibly.
This isn't just an opinion, though. I have evidence:
Why conservatives are more susceptible to lies
Conservatives tell twice as many "Pants on Fire" lies, and half agan as many "partial lies" as liberals do
Pretty much every fact checking site will give you the same basic statistics.
And honestly, the psychology behind the why of this is fascinating.
And if you don't buy Politifact then there is this:
Conservatives are more likely to attack factchecking sites than liberals
University of Minnesota political science professor Eric Ostermeier did an analysis of 511 selected PolitiFact stories issued from January 2010 through January 2011, stating that "PolitiFact has generally devoted an equal amount of time analyzing Republicans (191 statements, 50.4 percent) as they have Democrats (179 stories, 47.2 percent)". Republican officeholders were considered by Politifact to have made substantially more "false" or "pants on fire" statements than their Democratic counterparts. Of 98 statements PolitiFact judged "false" or "pants on fire" from partisan political figures, 74 came from Republicans (76 percent) compared to 22 from Democrats (22 percent) during the selected period reviewed.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead