Truth Index: Rick Santorum

I incorrectly discounted Rick Santorum as a potential presidential candidate of standing when he started his campaign—I think a lot of others did as well (many of us had our money another Rick—Rick Perry, until he opened his mouth).

He sort of reminds me of a male Michele Bachmann with his religious inferences (it should be noted that so far in 2012, Bachmann has not been subjected to the Truth-o-Meter). While I have to give him some credit for standing up for what he believes in, there’s not enough voters who believe in what he believes in to get him elected, which is why it appears that many are starting to line up behind Mitt Romney. Not swaying is what could defeat him: if Santorum was nominated he would stick with his strong conservative ideals, while Mitt would sway left again for that necessary swing vote. (Marco Rubio might say the majority of Americans are conservative, but it’s mostly what they say and not what they do, and the Republican party is well aware of that..)

But enough of my political banter. After winning the state of Iowa (after being called for Mitt Romney) and his rising star of being the “true conservative’s choice” MUCH more attention, of course, has been given to him. And yes, as PolitiFact notes, Rick Santorum’s Truth Index has fallen since 2011.

Out of 23 Santorum statements earning our lowest ratings -- Mostly False, False and Pants on Fire -- 17 have occurred since the beginning of the year, nearly three-quarters.

In contrast, of 10 statements earning our highest ratings -- True and Mostly True -- only half have occurred since the beginning of the year.

But instead of looking at numbers of Trues and Mostly Trues versus Falses and Pants on Fire, let’s get into a little more of the nitty gritty. Up until March of 2011, Santorum had not been fact-checked at all by PolitiFact. By the end of 2011, he had 13 Truth-o-Meter rulings with a negative 19.2 Truth Index. So far in 2012 he’s had 32 more rulings, for a grand total of 45 through April 3, and his Truth Index for the 45 is a negative 31.1. This chart shows how Santorum’s Truth Index declined month to month as his number of rulings mounted.

Here’s what his chart looks like for 2012 only, which Truth index-wise at almost negative 34 is slightly worse than the cumulative above.

Click to enlarge: Mitt Romney's 2012 PF ruling count and Truth Index are almost identical, at 33 rulings and -31.8 Truth Index.

The most covered subject from rulings on Rick Santorum was healthcare, over 20 percent of them (ten) mostly about “Obamacare” and in attacking Romney, about the similarities to what he did in Massachussetts. However, that Truth Index of negative 15 is higher than his overall average. Here’s how he did on healthcare graphically:

The second part of this analysis compares claims with FactCheck.Org but should be more accurately categorized as “Find THIS PolitiFact Ruling” (“Nothing to See Here”) since many of them were not covered by PolitiFact. That post will follow shortly.