As the U.S. midterm elections approach, a polling organization suddenly admitted that most of the survey data it had previously released was fabricated.
Even more absurdly, these fake data not only tricked mainstream media such as the New York Times, but were also included in the databases of several well-known election analysis agencies. In fact, one candidate even accused these data of affecting his own campaign prospects.
The Washington Post reported on the 22nd that the involved organization, Wedgewood Polls, admitted publicly on the 20th that most of the polling data was fabricated. The organization claimed that only one survey was authentic, and argued that the fraud was a “social experiment” aimed at exposing loopholes in the review process of the American polling industry.
This scandal was uncovered by the polling analysis website FiftyPlusOne. Researchers found several anomalies in the original election polling data provided by Wedgewood for Mississippi, including discrepancies between the respondent numbers and the time of survey completion compared to the actual data.
On October 20th, researchers asked for an explanation from the other party, but received a demeaning response. Subsequently, Wedgewood admitted to the fraud and even accused the media and polling organizations of lacking the ability to conduct proper verification.
It's embarrassing that this agency, which only started releasing polls in June this year, has indeed deceived many industry insiders.
The New York Times acknowledges that its polling database included 15 surveys conducted by Wedgewood. The election analysis firm Decision Desk HQ also removed 17 related polls. FiftyPlusOne states that, despite verifying the personnel records and survey methods provided by the agency, they were unable to detect any data fabrication.
These fake polls also caused real political turmoil.
Michigan Democratic State Senator Marleigh McMoore said that a poll conducted by Wedgewood in June showed her support rate in the federal senatorial primaries was only 9%. Since then, campaign donations have decreased sharply, volunteer morale has been undermined, and the media has kept questioning whether she should quit the race.
McMoro finally withdrew from the primary elections on July 5th. She accused the so-called ‘social experiment’ of harming her campaign team, but it is currently impossible to determine how much impact fake polls had on her decision to withdraw from the election.
Things are not over yet. According to the Washington Post on the 22nd, another polling agency related to Wedgewood, SoCal Strategies, had its website and social media accounts suddenly disappear. FiftyPlusOne subsequently announced that it would stop including any new polls from this agency, and remove two surveys whose authenticity was questioned.
