Presidential campaigns use technology to promote their candidates, influence opinion and win votes, app for election information can be used to help people

Political.com poll finds 77% would use new app to fact check political TV ads

As presidential campaigns use technology to promote their candidates, influence opinion and win votes, technology is also being harnessed to help voters sort through all the political “spin.” Created by former MIT students, the new Super PAC App “listens” to political TV ads and tells the user how much money was spent on the ad, as well as the organization that funded it. According to a Political.com poll, 77% of respondents would use the new app, while 23% would not.

The app also allows users to rate the ad and fact check the claims that are made based on information provided by third-party, nonpartisan sources. When Politcal.com asked voters if they currently fact check claims made by political ads, 55% said they frequently do, 34% said they sometimes do, and 11% don’t fact-check.

Super PAC App is named for the political action committees (PACs) that can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money to explicitly advocate for or against political candidates. Super PACS are spending record sums of money creating and airing political ads in the run up to the November presidential election. Eighty percent of Political.com voters say Super PACs wield too much influence in national politics, while 12% disagree.

Regarding the increasingly negative tone of this year’s campaign, 45% of Political.com voters say that negative ads are effective, 40% say they aren’t, and 15% are unsure of their impact. When asked if running a negative campaign hurts or helps a candidate’s chances, 54% of voters believe it hurts, while 20% say it helps, and 26% are unsure. Additionally, 72% think this year’s presidential race has been more negative than previous ones, while 26% says it’s about the same.

Finally, when asked how often they though negative TV ads are truthful, 57% responded they are seldom truthful, 33% think they are sometimes truthful, and 8% say they are never truthful.

Since its launch in January 2012, Political.com has been providing a dynamic interactive platform for viewers to cast votes in a variety of polls that take on timely and important political, economic and social issues facing Americans today. To date, over 735,000 votes have been cast across 122 polls. Poll responders are also encouraged to share opinions with a vast and ever-expanding audience via Political.com’s Facebook page, which currently has over 58,000 fans.