Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

A Campaign Full of Mediscare

A Campaign Full of Mediscare

The presidential campaign is overflowing with claims from both sides designed to scare seniors into thinking Medicare is being gutted or about to end altogether. Lost in the flurry of attack ads and political messaging is a policy debate on how best to reduce the growth of Medicare spending, a common goal of both campaigns. If all voters know …

Romney’s Impossible Tax Promise

Romney’s Impossible Tax Promise

Tax experts — including one who supports Romney’s plan — say the Republican presidential candidate’s promise to cut individual income tax rates without either favoring the wealthy or losing revenue isn’t mathematically possible. That’s the conclusion of the Tax Policy Center in a report the Romney campaign attacked …

Whoppers of 2012, Early Edition

Whoppers of 2012, Early Edition

Thomas Hobbes’ oft-cited phrase from 1651, “nasty, brutish and short,” does not describe the 2012 presidential campaign — unfortunately. The contest so far has been nasty all right, and disregard for the truth has been brutish on both sides, in our judgment. But alas, it won’t be over until Nov …

Obama’s ‘Outsourcer’ Overreach

Obama’s ‘Outsourcer’ Overreach

Obama accuses Romney in a series of TV ads of being a “corporate raider” who “shipped jobs to China and Mexico,” asking if voters want to elect an “outsourcer in chief.” But some of the claims in the ads are untrue, and others are thinly supported.

Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods

Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods

With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on June 28, voters are guaranteed to continue hearing the same old false claims about the law from politicians. And President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney wasted little time …

Obama Twists Romney’s Economic Record

Obama Twists Romney’s Economic Record

A new ad from the Obama campaign takes aim at Mitt Romney’s performance as governor of Massachusetts, claiming he had “one of the worst economic records in the country.” But the ad overreaches with several of its claims. The ad states that job creation …

Obama’s Spending: ‘Inferno’ or Not?

Obama’s Spending: ‘Inferno’ or Not?

Is President Obama’s spending an “inferno,” as Mitt Romney claims, or a binge that “never happened” as an analysis touted by the White House concluded? We judge that both of those claims are wrong on the facts. The truth is that the nearly 18 percent spike in spending …

Romney’s Solar Flareout

Romney’s Solar Flareout

An ad from the Romney campaign strains facts to make its point that federal grants and loans to green-energy companies were improperly steered to Obama’s political backers, and that federal money was wasted on failing companies that are now laying off employees. It claims the “inspector general said …

‘The Life of Julia,’ Corrected

‘The Life of Julia,’ Corrected

The Obama campaign depends on some false or dubious assumptions in its “Life of Julia” slide show. The infographic depicts a fictional woman whose life from age 3 to 67 is better under the president’s policies than under those of Republican Mitt Romney. But in reality …

The Whole Truth in Wisconsin Air Wars

The Whole Truth in Wisconsin Air Wars

If using partial truths in political advertising is an art, then ads in the Wisconsin recall election for governor should be in a museum. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are among the Democrats seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker …