Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
(Jillian Banner/Poynter)
If Your Time is short
- Follow our live fact-checking of the vice presidential debate, which starts at 9 p.m. ET
- At PolitiFact, we are committed to fact-checking newsworthy, questionable and interesting claims, regardless of who said them. Read more about our process of how we select claims to check.
The coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of barriers to normal, in-person life in the United States: barriers to education, to voting, for live events, to health care, the list goes on. During the vice presidential debate on Wednesday, there will also be a physical barrier. A wall of plexiglass will be placed between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris, as requested by Harris.
PolitiFact will fact-check the debate in real time on our website. Sign up for PolitiFact’s email to get a link to our fact-checking ahead of Wednesday’s debate.
The vice presidential debate is Oct 7. Here’s how it’s going to work:
When: Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET
Where: The University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
Who’s moderating? Susan Page, Washington bureau chief, USA Today.
Who will be on the debate stage? Pence and Harris will debate each other for the first time.
How do I watch? Our North Carolina partners at WRAL will stream a live feed of the debate. You can also watch the debate on your local news channels, cable news or CSPAN. Online feeds from PBS, NPR and others will be available on YouTube and other streaming platforms.
What’s the format? The debate will be divided into nine 10-minute segments, allowing each candidate two minutes to respond to the opening question in each segment.
When are the other debates?
-
Oct. 15: second presidential debate
-
Oct. 22: third presidential debate
Catch up with the latest PolitiFact fact-checking of Election 2020:
-
During the first presidential debate, we found inaccuracies in Trump’s talking points on COVID-19, as well as Biden’s description of the president’s handling of the pandemic. Read our story.
-
Joe Biden recently said Trump started a trade war that "led to a surge in farm bankruptcies." PolitiFact Wisconsin looked into it. To be sure, times are tough for Wisconsin farmers, particularly in dairy. But amid such a long-running trend, is it fair for Joe Biden to put the onus for a "surge" on Trump’s trade wars? Half True.
-
Trump said former President Barack Obama did something wrong by leaving him 128 judgeships to fill, that "you just don’t do that" This ignores the successful effort of Republicans to block the people Obama put forward. Mostly False.
- Not all polls are created equal, and it can be hard to put the results into the proper context. Here's your guide to understanding election polling during this politicized, pre-election time.
