American voters will head to the polls Nov. 5 to choose their next president and representatives in Congress, state capitals and city halls. PolitiFact’s mission in this moment is to give people the information they need to govern themselves.
Specifically: At PolitiFact, our Election 2024 mission is to hold politicians and pundits accountable to the truth and to share the facts so you can be an informed participant in the 2024 election.
This is the fifth presidential election PolitiFact has covered. And there are some things you can come to expect from our independent, nonprofit newsroom:
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We listen to you. PolitiFact pursues reader-suggested fact-checks. The best way to suggest a fact-check is to email [email protected]. We think of readers as our eyes and ears on the ground and we’re grateful for your suggestions.
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When candidates make campaign promises, we remember them. We are committed to tracking the major campaign promises of the next president, something we’ve done since Barack Obama took office in 2009. Besides the Obameter, you can read our promise trackers for Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
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PolitiFact fact-checks debates. When the presidential candidates meet one on one, PolitiFact journalists show up in force to analyze their assertions in real time. We offer contemporaneous coverage on a live blog and our social media channels. We publish new fact-checks and analysis after the debates. And, if you want to catch up on your own time, we recap the highlights in our newsletters and publish videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Here’s how we covered the June 27 presidential debate between Trump and Biden.
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PolitiFact may not always be first to respond to the news. You’ll notice we don’t normally publish breaking news. We don’t participate in horse race coverage that covers who’s up, who’s down. We don’t do the “he said, she said” unless it’s a fact-check. That’s because our journalists are carefully selecting claims, running the numbers, speaking with experts and thoughtfully weighing the claims’ accuracy using our Truth-O-Meter rating system. Learn more about our on-the-record sourcing and rating system.
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There’s some claims we won’t check. We don’t check opinions, and we recognize that speechmaking and political rhetoric leaves license for hyperbole. We avoid minor “gotchas” on claims that are obviously a slip of the tongue.
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We can’t fact-check it all, so we have to be choosy. Very often, we let these questions guide what we fact-check: 1) Is the statement likely to be passed on and repeated by others? 2) Would someone hear or read the statement and wonder: Is that true?
We know it can be hard to follow who said what and figure out if it’s even true. PolitiFact’s goal is to publish helpful journalism that holds politicians and disinformers accountable.
Read more:
PolitiFact fact-checks and stories on elections
Fact-Check Scorecards:
Republican Donald Trump (VP pick J.D. Vance)
Democrat Kamala Harris (VP pick Tim Walz)
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