More than 21,000 FactCheck.org subscribers responded to our online survey conducted Nov. 13-19. That's roughly 30% of all those who signed up to get our articles emailed to them. Overwhelmingly, those who responded found our articles clear and easy to understand, politically unbiased, reliable, and helpful in forming opinions about the candidates and their positions.

Journalists make up only 2 percent of respondents, but most of them found our articles helpful and nearly half quoted us as an authority. Teachers made up 10 percent of the respondents, and one in three used our articles in class.

One in six who responded worked in the 2004 presidential campaign at some level. Few Kerry nor Bush workers thought our articles made their opponent more careful about stating the facts, however.

A note of caution as you read these results. Our subscribers are not a random sample of everybody who visits our site, and the subscribers who chose to respond to our invitation to take this survey are not a random sample of all subscribers. So we don't pretend that these results are anything like a scientific sample of all who visit our site. But with that said, we are gratified at what we consider a very high response rate for such a survey and at the very favorable results.

For a .pdf version of this report click here.

FactCheck.org Subscriber Survey Results (21,586 respondents; Conducted Nov. 13-19, 2004)

99% found us "clear and easy to understand."

94% Found us "free of political bias."

Of the 6% who saw bias, most thought it was liberal but nearly one in four said it was conservative.

Those seeing liberal bias were mostly GOP or Independent; those seeing a rightward tilt mostly Dems.

Do you consider yourself to be a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or what? (Optional)   Democrat Independent Republican Other Was the bias you detected pro-Democrat/liberal or pro-Republican/conservative, or some other? Democrat/liberal 19.09% 65.78% 90.79% 55.79% Republican/conservative 60.58% 21.60% 3.32% 25.26% Other 20.33% 12.62% 5.88% 18.95% Totals 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

99% found us "reliable and accurate."

93% found us helpful in forming an opinion of the candidates.

97% voted in the presidential election.

Among those who voted, 78% said we made them more confident in their choice.

90% shared FactCheck articles with others.

Of those who shared articles, 43% did so once a week or more. . .

. . . but most didn't use the "email to a friend" feature.

Only 2% said they are journalists, but . . .

. . . nearly two-thirds said we were helpful to them in preparing news reports, and . . .

. . .nearly half said they quoted FactCheck as an authority . . .

. . . usually after verifying our information for themselves.

Did you verify FactCheck.org's information independently? Totals   Always Most of the time Seldom Never   Did you cite FactCheck.org as an authority in news reports? Yes 24.78% 44.78% 24.35% 6.09% 100.00% No 14.89% 28.09% 23.83% 33.19% 100.00%

10% said they are teachers . . .

. . . mostly at the high school and college level.

Q19: What level do you teach?   Counts Percents Percents 0 100 Grades 1-6 331 15.59% Grades 7-9 212 9.99% Grades 10-12 538 25.34% College Undergrad 736 34.67% Graduate 306 14.41% Totals 2123 100.00%

About one teacher in three used FactCheck material in class.

High-school teachers were most likely to use FactCheck in class.

What level do you teach?   Grades 1-6 Grades 7-9 Grades 10-12 College Undergrad Graduate Did you use FactCheck material in any of your classes? Yes 15.11% 32.08% 42.94% 36.55% 22.55% No 84.89% 67.92% 57.06% 63.45% 77.45% Totals 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

One in six worked in a presidential campaign . . .

. . . eight out of ten for Kerry.

(A) Which side did you support?   Percents Percents 0 100 Bush 10.87% Kerry 84.51% Other 1.59% Prefer not to answer 3.03% Totals 100.00%

A few workers on each side said FactCheck made their opponent more careful about facts . . .

Did FactCheck cause the candidate you opposed to be more careful about stating facts accurately? Totals   Yes Uncertain No   Overall 6.13% 36.07% 57.79% 100.00% Which side did you support? Bush 8.94% 49.59% 41.46% 100.00% Kerry 5.61% 34.18% 60.21% 100.00% Other 1.85% 51.85% 46.30% 100.00% Prefer not to answer 12.62% 33.01% 54.37% 100.00%

. . . but nearly three times as many said we made their candidate more careful.

Did FactCheck cause your candidate to be more careful about stating facts accurately? Totals   Yes Uncertain No   Overall 17.90% 63.02% 19.08% 100.00% Which side did you support? Kerry 18.47% 63.52% 18.01% 100.00% Bush 15.72% 60.16% 24.12% 100.00% Prefer not to answer 17.48% 59.22% 23.30% 100.00% Other 1.85% 66.67% 31.48% 100.00%

More identified themselves as Democrats or Independents than as Republicans.