STANFORD, Calif. — As social media sites like Facebook and Snapchat move to eliminate “fake news” reports from their sites, researchers from Stanford and New York Universities say Americans can be sure of one thing: the phenomenon did not affect the results of the 2016 presidential election.
The study investigates the influence that fake news may have had on President Trump’s victory.
NYU economics professor Hunt Allcott and Stanford economics professor Matthew Gentzkow led the research. The pair ran a series of tests to determine which fake news articles were circulated, how much of it was circulated, and the amount of voters that believed the stories to be true.
Once they gathered an assortment of fake news stories, Gentzkow and Allcott used fact-checking resources in order to verify that these stories were fake. They then conducted a post-election survey that consisted of 1,200 voters.
Participants were asked what their primary or “most important” source of 2016 election news was. Next, they were presented with a list of true and false news stories, and asked two questions concerning each individual story. The first was whether or not the participant remembered seeing the story. The second question asked whether or not they believed the story.
Although fake news stories in Trump’s favor were shared more times (30 million compared to 8 million for Hillary Clinton), the authors of the report had determined that these stories still did not reach enough voters nationwide to change the election results.
“The average American saw and remembered 0.92 pro-Trump fake news stories and 0.23 pro-Clinton fake news stories, with just over half of those who recalled seeing fake news stories believing them,” the authors write. But, “for fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 television campaign ads.”
The observers’ work also revealed that a majority of voters were capable of accurately deciding whether or not a news story was true. They concluded that an insignificant number of American voters casted their final decision based on false information.
“In summary, our data suggest that social media were not the most important source of election news, and even the most widely circulated fake news stories were seen by only a small fraction of Americans,” the study concludes.
The biggest factor was the repulsion of Hillary Clinton’s personality. Her numbers were much better until her campaign began to run commercials with her speaking.
I can point to every drop in her polling to broad exposure to her vituperative voice.
Yes, if what we needed was a President that we could lock in the closet with her server and never speak, she would have been the perfect candidate.
Uh huh. Ask any professor friend what they think about “studies”.
One of my favorite stock phrases in an argument is “STUDIES HAVE SHOWN!!!”
I don’t agree, I think if not for the lying Fake News like CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR. Hillary would have lost by much more. But knowing how hard the fake news as part of the opposition propagandist branch of her team, they got her a lot of votes and were able to cover up a lot of her criminal activities being known. The only thing good I can say is at least CNN admitted it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkXkS70Co-o
So if hitlery won, it would have been because of fake news? This story is proof liberals just don’t get it and never will.
Liberalism is a mental disorder!
According to liberals, Hillary “won” the elections through “winning” the popular vote. And that, btw, is a fake news story. Talk about messed up!
Yes, the fake news tried to help the evil witch win, but they failed to affect the outcome and Trump won anyway. We don’t need and article to see this.
When will everyone learn that two of the most prominent reasons for President Trump’s victory were:
Hillary Clinton
Barak Obama
The main effect of the overwhelming bias towards HRC in the media that I glaringly noticed, regardless of its veracity or serious lack thereof, was to further compel me NOT to cast my vote for her (or for anyone/anything supported by the more reactionary liberalists, for that matter).
I’ll lay down money that most of the people who believed crap like PizzaGate were not voting for Hillary in the first place. Ditto people who voted against Trump. These stories work when people want to believe them.
I’m also willing to bet that all the news about the DNC and Hillary working to stop Bernie did far more damage, actively encouraging people who might have voted for her to vote for Steyn, Johnson or just leaving the ballot blank (as happened to a large degree in Michigan). Unfortunately, while that news was not acquired in an ethical manner, no one has claimed that it was fake.
Woah, dude…
There was a lot of fake news in this election cycle; like “Trump can’t win”. Americans saw threw the lies. Are these “fake News” sites (NYT, CNN, MSNBC, …) included in the survey?
Sorry Charley i disagree.
Hiliar was never fit for office. Her bungling of Benghazi, the email server, Pay to play at Clinton Foundation and DNC scandals – and subsequent coverup attempts disqualify her for any public office.
She is just another Soros puppet – aimed at bringing this country down for their own financial benefit.
The fake News most certainly affected the Election, if the truth had been told about Hillary I’m certain that President Trump would have won the popular vote as well. Of course, the Fake News orgs had a vested interest in electing their chosen candidate, they have been touting her for decades.
Almost all “news” stories and history generally deviate from the actual truth of the occurrence to a greater or lesser degree. History especially, because it’s written by either the winners or those with an angle.
The only truth is one’s own perspective.
TRANSLATION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL MORONS: THE LEFT DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING BUT FAKE NEWS SITES…..they are in big trouble kids….look for some new snowflake apparel so you don’t stick out. THOSE 33 MILLION VIEWERS THAT TUNED IN TO WATCH WHO TRUMP PICKED FOR THE SUPREME COURT WILL BE OUT ON THE STREETS TO WIPE THEM CLEAN OF THE FKN SNOT NOSED LEFTIST TRAITORS…..GUARANFKNTEED. DEMOCRATS: THEY NAME IS TREASON. AMERICA: leftist socialist traitors are still trying to steal your election and will do anything to succeed. They are trying to convince others to break the law, insult our constitution, and disrespect the process and the actions of the President you elected to implement your wishes. THEY ARE FOMENTING CIVIL UNREST AND USING VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE. ….THEY MUST BE STOPPED NOW. DEMAND THEY BE ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE……THEY ARE TREACHEROUS IN THE EXTREME ….and when Americans find out the extent of the treachery the Democrat criminals in congress they will punish them in a way they will be able to bear. I am a plain warner …..YOU NEED TO BE READY.
It was the real news which killed Hillary. That constant barrage of polls and Left Wing pundants (even some Right Wingers) which showed her winning by a large margin. How Trump didn’t stand a chance. That sort of thing probably caused many potential Hillary voters to stay home and not even bother voting. If she was going to win in such a huge landslide, she didn’t need their vote. How wrong they all were. They were actually trying to discourage Trump voters and that strategy backfired on them big time.
And the emails did have an effect on those sitting on the fence. They may not have all voted for Trump, but they sure didn’t vote for the lying, double crossing, in-it-for-herself Hildabeast.
People didn’t need the internet to understand what a heinous witch Hillary is. They knew it before Al Gore invented it.
Donald Trump campaigned on an agenda. Hillary Clinton campaigned on an attack. Americans were smart to see through it.
actually the lame stream “media” wall-to-wall fake news DID have an effect on me: I became active and got several people who weren’t going to vote to get out and vote for Trump .
We get our news from multiple sources these days, and I don’t think FaceBook is considered a “source” by most people. There is a plethora of sites dedicated to news right at your fingertips and most people who vote are not swayed by fake news. In the end, a Presidential campaign always comes down to issues, and Hillary was just on the wrong side of the argument.
What was the precise criterion used to determine what is “fake news”?
The reality is that “fake news” is a term that the corporate media and the government use to describe anything that questions the official narrative of events.