W&L

University Library

2020 MOCK CONVENTION -- RESEARCH GUIDE

January 2020
https://libguides.wlu.edu/mockcon2020

A Note

Every four years, websites focusing on the upcoming Presidential election spring up like weeds.  (Please feel free to choose an alternative metaphor.)

On this page, we will gather a handful of reliable and nonpartisan sites which should be useful for serious research.

Current / Future Races

2020 Democratic Primary Forecast
[Introduced 1/9/20]   New 538 tool "simulates the primary season thousands of times to find the most likely outcome for each candidate" in each primary state.

National Journal Race Tracker
National Journal data on national and state races. W&L subscription.

Election DataBot
Multifaceted collection on voting, fund-raising, polling, social media activity, etc. From ProPublica and Google. [Still hibernating in early January  2020]

Project Vote Smart
Highly-respected non-partisan site.

Fact Checking

FactCheck.org
Non-partisan program funded by the Annenberg Foundation monitoring "the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases."

PolitiFact.com
Another non-partisan truth-checking effort,"a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you assess the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates' speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate.

If you are interesting in fact-checking as a journalistic and political activity, the American Press Institute offers a facinating "roundup from the world of fact checking, debunking and truth telling."