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How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the folks who successfully got the Super Bowl to come back to Atlanta.
They all took a recent ride on the AJC Truth-O-Meter, courtesy of PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
Want to see how they fared? Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Want to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia). You can also follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga).
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Video for Atlanta Super Bowl bid presentation on Tuesday, May 24th, 2016:
“Our population has grown from about 1 million in the 1970s to almost 7 million today.”
You could make that case for the broadest possible definition of Atlanta — if you add Columbus into the equation. But who does that?
The 20-county area most people consider the broad definition of Atlanta is about 5.7 million and will not reach 7 million for another 14 years.
It’s true that metro Atlanta’s population has soared since the 1970s. But it’s misleading to say the area now approaches 7 million people.
We rated the statement Half True.
Hillary Clinton on Sunday, June 5th, 2016, in a campaign speech:
“It is a fact that the economy does better when we have a Democrat in the White House.”
Democratic presidents do have more gross domestic product growth than Republicans, according to quarterly GDP data dating to 1947.
But Clinton’s comments require several caveats. The current growth in the economy under President Barack Obama is lower than the Republican average.
Factors such as oil prices also reflect the higher GDP growth under Democratic presidents. On top of that, comparing one period of time to another or one president to another can be problematic.
We rated Clinton’s claim in Sacramento Half True.
Donald Trump on Sunday, June 5th, 2016, in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”:
Says Judge Gonzalo Curiel “is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican.”
The California La Raza Lawyers Association does advance the interests of the Latino legal community and works on issues that matter in Latino communities more broadly.
However, it has stayed on the sidelines in the immigration debate. The one exception is one letter from a dozen years ago that objected to a television show on the grounds that the program encouraged people to enter the country without documentation. The group’s rare court filings focus on civil rights in general.
Trump’s statement is accurate only in the sense that the association’s mission aims to support Latinos, but even that is flawed because he said the group was pro-Mexican and the Latino designation reaches a wider set of people. The claim ignores critical facts that would give a very different impression.
We rate Trump’s statement Mostly False.
