Fake Donald Trump quote circulates online yet again

Posts on social media claiming US President Donald Trump once said Republicans were the “dumbest group of voters in the country” are continuing to circulate, despite the supposed quote having been repeatedly debunked.

The posts feature an image showing an old photo of Mr Trump alongside a quote attributed to him and sourced to “People Magazine, 1998”, which reads: “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”

But we’ve found no evidence that Mr Trump ever actually said this, and People magazine has previously told other fact checkers it “couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote” in its archives, and that it had no record of any interview with Mr Trump in 1998.

The photo, meanwhile, is taken from an appearance Mr Trump made on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1988, during which he was asked about a possible future run for the presidency, but he did not say the above quote, or anything like it, in his response.

This quote is an example of a “zombie claim”—one that crops up repeatedly over the course of weeks, months or years, even after being repeatedly debunked. We’ve fact checked posts sharing this claim several times before, and it’s been circulating for at least 10 years.

False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are often difficult to contain and correct.