Overview

• A comprehensive analysis of 8 million Congressional speeches from 1879 to 2022 shows an unprecedented shift from evidence-based to intuition-driven rhetoric, with current levels at a historic low.
• The decline in fact-based language began in the late 1970s and has accelerated in recent years, particularly among Republican members since 2021.
• This trend correlates with reduced Congressional productivity, heightened political polarization, and growing economic inequality in the United States.
• Researchers developed the Evidence-Minus-Intuition (EMI) metric to quantify the balance between fact-based and intuition-based rhetoric, revealing a significant shift in political communication over 140 years.
• The study highlights concerns about 'truth decay,' where the diminishing role of facts in political discourse undermines public trust in democratic institutions.