Some folks may be surprised that the number is this high, but only four percent (4%) of U.S. voters say most politicians keep their campaign promises.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 76% say the majority of politicians do not keep the promises they make on the campaign trail. Nearly one-out-of five voters (19%) aren’t sure.

Voters are evenly divided, however, over why the politicians break their promises. Forty-five percent (45%) believe it’s because they deliberately made a false promise to get elected. Forty-three percent (43%) take a more charitable approach and say unforeseen events after they took office forced the politicians to break their promises.

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Women are slightly more sympathetic than men, primarily because 23% of female voters say they’re not sure if most politicians keep their campaign promises.

While 58% of men say politicians deliberately make false promises to get elected, 55% of women say unforeseen circumstances after they took office are to blame when politicians break their vows.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of GOP voters and 52% of unaffliateds think that when politicians break campaign promises, it’s because they deliberately made false promises. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Democrats attribute it to unforeseen events after they took office.

One of the most famous broken promises was made by then-Vice President George H. W. Bush during the 1998 Presidential campaign. He urged voters to “Read My Lips, No New Taxes” and was defeated four years later after breaking that promise. In 2008, Barack Obama followed a similar path the White House. As noted in a Wall Street Journal column by Scott Rasmussen, by campaigning like Ronald Reagan and promising tax cuts for 95% of all Americans. Today, just 10% of now expect their taxes to go down under President Obama.

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