Would you say that the trope of politicians being lying manipulators isn’t very accurate?

Our version of politics is just a popularity contest rather doing what’s beneficial for the future. Would you think that most politicians, at least the faces for each party, tend to lie or tend to tell the truth? I’m not the most read up on politics but I can’t really think of many examples of politicians that I would consider truthful, yet they are chosen for positions that are elected by people.