Far-Right Politicians Select Migration Evidence Consistent with Party Priorities

In an era often described as post-truth politics, it is crucial to understand how politicians engage with evidence. We argue that politicians selectively engage with evidence consistent with their party’s priorities. We test this argument by presenting 1,822 candidates in the 2024 Austrian national election with contrasting pieces of high-quality evidence on the same salient migration policy reform. We find that candidates from ideologically extreme parties – particularly the far-right populist Freedom Partyof Austria (FPÖ) – select evidence consistent with their party’s priorities. Analysis of public opinion data (N = 1,428) further shows that far-right supporters approve of this selective consideration of evidence. Our findings suggest that growing far-right electoral strength may amplify the reliance on supportive evidence, increasing the risk of ill-informed policy decisions.