On May 13, 2019, Zebra Fact Check sent an email to PolitiFact asking for a correction of a July 19, 2013 fact check in which PolitiFact rated a literally true statement from Republican Dan Stein as “False.”A .pdf version of (T)hat email follows:
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
Back in 2013 I pointed out a mistake in PolitiFact's July 9, 2013 fact check of Dan Stein. Stein said an immigration bill proposed at the time would lead to a population increase of 70 million over 20 years. (Stein was literally correct but received a "False" rating).
The problem I pointed out stemmed from the following line in the fact check (bold emphasis added):
While credible estimates do say the U.S. population could grow by 65 million between 2013 and 2033, only about 16 million of that would be increases resulting from the Senate bill. The remaining 49 million, or three-quarters of the total, would come from natural population growth among people already in America and by immigration that’s deemed legal under today’s laws -- and thus would have nothing to do with whether the Senate bill passes or not.
The statement in bold completely excludes one significant source of population growth: illegal immigration. Table 4 of the relevant CBO publication confirms that source, even while projecting that the bill in question would result in a net decline of unauthorized residents. In short, illegal immigrants would make up part of the 49 million, contradicting PolitiFact's claim.
PolitiFact apparently disagreed that its statement was incorrect, though it offered no rationale that would justify that conclusion.
Regarding PolitiFact's "False" ruling on a literally true statement
PolitiFact confirmed the accuracy of Stein's statement:
If you add these two numbers together, you get a roughly 65 million increase in population. That’s pretty close to Stein’s 70 million figure.
Despite confirming Stein's figure, attributing the matching figures to coincidence or something, PolitiFact ruled Stein's claim was "False." The ruling ignores the plain truth it found in Stein's claim, which follows:
"We're talking about a population increase under the Senate bill of over 70 million people in 20 years -- 70 million people."
Without the Senate bill the U.S. population would increase by about 49 million over 20 years. With the Senate bill it would increase by about 65 million (rounding to 70 million from 65.2 million is a standard type of rounding). It's correct to state that under the Senate bill the population would increase by an estimated 70 million. Stein's claim was literally true.
PolitiFact confirmed the literal accuracy of Stein's claim and gave it a rating supposedly reserved for statements that contain no truth at all.
I hope PolitiFact will reconsider its false reporting and nonsensical "Truth-O-Meter" rating.
