2019 Lie of the Year Readers’ Poll results

Three Pants-on-Fire claims from President Donald Trump have taken first, second and third place in the readers' poll for most significant falsehood of 2019.

Trump’s Pants on Fire claim, "There has never been, ever before, an administration that’s been so open and transparent," won the contest. 

The first runner-up from Trump also won the PolitiFact Lie of the Year award: "The first so-called second hand information ‘Whistleblower’ got my phone conversation almost completely wrong." That claim too was rated Pants on Fire. 

Third place went to Trump’s statement that originally "almost all models predicted" that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama. Pants on Fire.

We offered readers 10 finalists for 2019 and an option to write in a misstatement. We received 2,357 responses.

Here are the results:

1. "There has never been, ever before, an administration that’s been so open and transparent." — Donald Trump on May 20, 2019, in remarks at the White House — Pants on Fire — 53.46%

2. "The first so-called second hand information ‘Whistleblower’ got my phone conversation almost completely wrong." — Donald Trump on Oct. 5, 2019, to reporters — Pants on Fire  — 16.33%

3. Originally "almost all models predicted" Dorian would hit Alabama.— Donald Trump on Sept. 4, 2019, in a tweet — Pants on Fire  — 10.14%

4. U.S. tariffs on China are "not hurting anybody" in the United States. — White House official Peter Navarro on Aug. 18, 2019, in an interview — Pants on Fire  — 7.64%

5. Other — 3.52%

6. Video shows Nancy Pelosi slurring her speech at a public event. — Politics Watchdog on May 22, 2019, in a Facebook post — Pants on Fire  — 2.42%

7. Between 27,000 and 200,000 Wisconsinites were "turned away" from the polls in 2016 due to lack of proper identification. — Hillary Clinton on Sept. 17, 2019, in a speech — Pants on Fire  — 2.29%

8. Says Nancy Pelosi diverted "$2.4 billion from Social Security to cover impeachment costs." — A viral image on Oct. 9, 2019, in a Facebook post — Pants on Fire  — 2.16% 

9. "The vast majority" of San Francisco’s homeless people "also come in from — and we know this — from Texas. Just (an) interesting fact." — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on June 23, 2019, in an interview — Pants on Fire  — 0.76% 

10. Says John Bolton "fundamentally was a man of the left."— Tucker Carlson on Sept. 10, 2019, on his show — Pants on Fire  — 0.76%

11. "Remember after the shooting in Las Vegas, (President Donald Trump) said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re going to ban the bump stocks.’ Did he ban the bump stocks? No." — Kirsten Gillibrand on June 2, 2019, in a town hall — Pants on Fire — 0.51% 

Results may not total 100 percent due to rounding.