Fact-Checking Election-Campaign Misinformation: Impacts on Noncommitted Voters’ Feelings and Behavior

Making misleading statements may benefit a politician, for example during an election campaign. However, there are potentially also negative consequences; political misinformation can taint democratic debate, voters may be misled into forming false beliefs, and being fact-checked may damage a politician’s reputation. Previous research has found that correcting misleading statements made by established politicians reduces topical misperceptions, but hardly affects voter feelings and support. Here, we examined the impact of political misinformation and fact-checking when politicians are unfamiliar. Participants (N = 406) were engaged in a simulated election campaign set in an unfamiliar country, featuring statements from fictional candidates. Participants indicated their feelings toward the candidates, cast a vote, and rated their belief in the fact-checked statements. Misleading statements that were not corrected positively affected feelings towards and voting for (right-leaning) politicians. Corrective fact-checks had large effects, reducing belief in misinformation, and fact-checked candidates were viewed much less favorably and attracted far fewer votes. This demonstrates that in the absence of strong pre-existing attitudes, corrective fact-checks can negatively impact misinformation-spreading politicians who are not (yet) well-known.