2012 in Review at PolitiFact (Continued)

A few items have been posted already about the year 2012 at PolitiFact (PF).  It was their biggest year because of the presidential election, with 1,961 rulings produced.    Here's how it looked for all Truth-o-Meter categories as a percentage, in 2012:

Click to enlarge

In terms of Republicans versus Democrats, Democrats had a 2012 Truth Index+ of 58.5 (-3.7 PF Truth Index) for 735 rulings, while the Republicans had a 49.8 (-25.6 PF Truth Index) for 1,078 rulings.  That means that for the statements fact-checked by PolitiFact, the Democrats' rulings averaged about 17.5 percent higher (in proportional terms of Truth Index+).

Click to enlarge:  Truth Index+ for party is in parentheses

We've looked at month-to-month already, and took at a better look at Pants on Fire.  Let's take a look at the top ten "rulees"--those who were fact-checked.  This may explain to some degree why more Republicans are checked than Democrats.  While Obama was the person most fact-checked, he was the only Democrat on the top ten list.  Outside of people, only chain e-mails had enough rulings to get to the top ten.  The PolitiFact states showed their contributive power, with Chris Christie (PolitiFact New Jersey), Rick Scott (PolitiFact Florida), and Scott Walker and Tommy Thompson (PolitiFact Wisconsin) making it to the list.  Other than that, there were the expected presidential candidates (Vice president Joe Biden was Number 13 with 14 fact-checks).  The top ten shown reflects about 25 percent of all rulings; it should also be noted that of the 760 individuals/organizations "politi-facted" in 2012, 500 of them only received a single ruling (also about 25 percent of the rulings).  This shows how PolitiFact concentrates its efforts.

Click to enlarge:  Chain e-mails have always had one of the lowest Truth Indexes (highlighted).

In terms of topic, there is some overlap, that is, PolitiFact assigns multiple subjects by the nature of the fact-check, so these aren't quite as straightforward.  Generally, this is the "first" subject assigned in the fact-check, although it can be a subjective selection.  Occasionally it may be changed if I feel it's not correct, but that is rare.  Nevertheless, here are the top ten subjects which cover about 57 percent of all the rulings.  There's actually 11 because Deficits and Abortion tied for tenth place with 56 rulings each.

Click to enlarge:  Healthcare had lowest Truth Index because of high number of False and
Pants on Fire Obamacare claims (highlighted)

As far as separating Democrats from Republicans in other categories, I may be doing that as the year progresses, but more likely in terms of all rulings as PolitiFact quickly approaches 7,000.  Hold that dial.