By Burt Glass
On the eve of the first of two planned presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, more than two out of three Americans say moderators should point out factual inaccuracies in candidates’ comments during the debate, according to a new Media & Technology Survey from Boston University’s College of Communication, out today.
Support for fact-checking in real time is stronger among Democrats (81% agree or strongly agree) than Republicans (67%), the survey finds.
“Support for moderators pointing out errors is bipartisan and relatively high across the board,” said Tammy Vigil, PhD., senior associate dean and associate professor, media science, at Boston University’s College of Communication. “Still, the results imply that Democrats either may value verifiable information more than the Republican counterparts, or that they think live fact checking would significantly benefit their candidate or harm the opposition.”