Overview
- The self-styled firm Wedgewood Polls acknowledged this week that the majority of its published state and local poll results were made up and its online accounts and website have been taken down.
- An analyst-aggregator, FiftyPlusOne, flagged inconsistencies that led newsrooms and poll aggregators to question Wedgewood’s methodology and remove its entries, with The New York Times deleting 15 Wedgewood polls.
- Democratic candidates, most notably Mallory McMorrow, say a Wedgewood poll showing her with single-digit support cost her donations, demoralized volunteers, and contributed to pressure from reporters.
- The company framed the work as an 'experiment' to show how easily a fake pollster can gain traction, a claim that experts and affected campaigns widely criticized as a cover for deception.
- Regulators and professional groups including the FCC chair and AAPOR warned that fabricated polls are rising, that digital tools and AI make fakes easier to produce, and that the episode deepens public distrust in polling and could prompt tighter verification or investigations.