Usually, different news sources came with different kinds of evidence. Outside experts were more likely to offer some proof for the claims (92% versus 81% overall) and to base their proof on the candidate’s public record (43% versus 31% overall).
Journalists on the other hand, referred to the public record just 28% of the time and offered no evidence 22% of time.
The candidates were the next most likely source to offer evidence (83%) and in doing so, referred to the public record (36%).
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|
Evidence Used by the Various Sources |
|||||||
| Journalist   (n=661)  |
Candidate   (n=329) |
Surrogate   (n=160) |
Expert    (n=73) |
Voter   (n=45) |
Other Media (n=38) |
Other    (n=24)  |
|
| Voter interaction | 3% | 1% | 6% | 2 | 16% | 0% | 17% |
| Public record | 28 | 36 | 28 | 43 | 20 | 16 | 29 |
| Recent remarks | 7 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 4 |
| Camp. platform | 8 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Tactics /rhetoric | 14 | 10 | 8 | 23 | 13 | 3 | 17 |
| Opponent attack | 6 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Friends’ remarks | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Past personal life | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 13 |
| Poll | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Other media | 2 | * | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Â | |||||||
| No evidence | 22 | 17 | 17 | 8 | 36 | 37 | 4 |
| Â | |||||||
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
