Polygraph

Podcast · ms.now

Deadline: White House

Nicolle Wallace, MS NOW

Drawing on years of experience as communications chief for President George W. Bush and senior advisor for the McCain-Palin campaign, Nicolle Wallace provides political insight and clarity on where the decision-makers stand on complex issues. Join her for analysis and discussion with the key newsmakers every weekday.

False75% confidence5 sourcesOct 28, 2026Only one Republican senator voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Said by CThe claim that only one Republican senator voted against the 1965 Voting Rights Act is contradicted by the Senate tally: Republicans voted 30-2 on final passage (77-19 overall), so two Republicans opposed it. The claim matches the passage's wording, and the speaker's own 'only one' figure is the claim being checked, not evidence for it.False60% confidence3 sourcesOct 28, 2026Approximately 3% of the American public believes that Vladimir Putin is great.Said by BPew Research Center surveys in 2026 put American confidence in Putin at about 6% to 10%, so the claimed 3% falls well below the recorded range on the closest available measure. The sources do not measure how many Americans call Putin 'great', so the figure is contradicted by a comparable measure rather than by a direct match.False85% confidence8 sourcesOct 22, 2026George W. Bush called the midterm election in his first term a shellacking.Said by BThe sources attribute the word "shellacking" to Barack Obama's 2010 midterm, which was his first-term midterm, not to George W. Bush. Bush's characterization of his midterm defeat was "thumpin'," and that loss came in 2006, his second term; in his first-term midterm in 2002, his party gained seats.False90% confidence7 sourcesOct 22, 2026Donald Trump's current approval rating is below 30%.Said by 2CAs of 2026-10-22, Trump's approval was 31% in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, the lowest reading of his presidency, and other polls and averages put it at 33-38%. No source reports a figure below 30%, so the claim that it was below 30% is contradicted, and later polls (32% to 37%) show it stayed above that line.False65% confidence7 sourcesSep 7, 2026The current approval rating for the war is less than 20%.Said by AThe claim that current approval of the war is below 20% is contradicted by every poll in the sources, which put approval of Trump's handling of the Iran war at roughly 26-35% in the months around 2026-09-07. The claimant's passage hedges with 'I think', and the sources give no figure near 20%.False60% confidence7 sourcesSep 7, 2026The current conflict in the Middle East is taking place in a territory two and a half times the size of Iraq.Said by BThe post's 'this place' refers to Iran, and the 2.5x-Iraq figure is contradicted by multiple sources that put Iran at roughly 3.8 times Iraq's area (about 1.65 million km² vs 438,000 km²). The claim also treats the conflict's territory as Iran, while NYT describes the war's reach as more than four million square miles, so the extraction is not a clean match to the post.False60% confidence4 sourcesSep 7, 2026Americans began casting their ballots on September 4, 2026.The claim that Americans began casting ballots on September 4, 2026 is contradicted by sources saying the earliest in-person early voting opened September 18 in Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia, with Vermont and Illinois following later. The post's September 4 event was North Carolina beginning to mail absentee ballots, which is not casting ballots, and the sources do not address whether any voters returned ballots before September 18.

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