Politicians are known for stretching the truth (to put it politely). But some are more flexible with the truth than others.
The New York Times asked a professional political fact-checker from PolitiFact to analyze the statements made by current candidates in the 2016 race. It turns out that the candidate most in touch with reality– or at least the least willing to lie– is our former governor, Martin O’Malley. His statements were false or mostly false only 25 percent of the time. (However, it’s worth noting that O’Malley said things that were true or mostly true only 19 percent of the time — it seems as though his words exist in the murky purgatory of plausible deniability.)
On the other side of the spectrum, former Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson was false or mostly false a whopping 84 percent of the time, beating out even Donald Trump (76 percent false). Not that that seems to have damaged either of their standings in the polls. See how the other candidates fall on the truth/falsehood spectrum here.
