Australians care if politicians tell lies, but people in the US don't
4 January 2019
By Michael Le Page
The US may have entered a post-truth era, but Australia has not. Researchers who asked people in the US their views on politicians who frequently bend the truth found that fact-checking had little impact, whereas for Australians it did change their political opinions.
The findings in Australia are positive and encouraging, says team member Stephan Lewandowsky of the University of Bristol in the UK. They suggest fact-checking is a genuine counter to politicians who regularly make false statements.
People like a politician less if they find out they have been lied to a lot, says Lewandowsky. Its a reasonably large effect.
But when the team did a follow-up study in the US, the size of the effect was ten times smaller. We have a lot of information now suggesting American voters dont really care about facts, in the sense that if you tell them a politician is dishonest it doesnt really seem to matter, says Lewandowsky.
More:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2189545-australians-care-if-politicians-tell-lies-but-people-in-the-us-dont/
Solly Mack
(90,787 posts)Matters to me. A lot.
Thyla
(791 posts)That was 3 years ago, it's worse now.
If more of us did care then we may actually change something for the better instead of wallowing in the apathy of the status quo and above the line voting.
Nitram
(22,890 posts)That would be somewhere around 35% of the population?
ROB-ROX
(767 posts)People who have trouble "thinking" normally can not be anything but DRONES. Republicans are in a mental "lock step" doing as their masters bid them. They fail to think or reason out simple logic to determine lies from truth. They have been genetically breed to believe as their evil masters tell them. A strong religious background could help versus evil religious leaders who love wealth versus a humble life style.......