Poll Site Referenced by Major Mainstream Outlets Says Its Polls Were Fake

Wedgewood Polls, a supposed polling site whose findings were republished by mainstream news outlets has said its results were fabricated as part of an "experimental project."

The Statement: Wedgewood reportedly made a statement on Wednesday, after election analysis site FiftyPlusOne confronted the site with evidence that its data was fake. The firm reportedly wrote online, "How easy is it for an entirely fabricated polling firm to gain traction, be taken seriously, and expose how little scrutinization exists in media and in public commentary? The short answer: Far too easy." Wedgewood has since deleted its social media pages.

The Details: According to The New York Times (Lean Left bias), "The pollster had been releasing surveys since June, shifting from one midterm battleground to another." It's still not entirely clear who was running the site. The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) described it as "one of the biggest mysteries in Washington just weeks before the midterm elections."

FCC Statement: FCC chief Brendan Carr said, "Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these Polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis… The FCC takes these issues seriously… Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes by airing Polls that would violate their regulatory obligations."

In Media: Findings from the site had been aggregated or written about by mainstream outlets across the spectrum, including Nate Silver (Lean Left bias), The New York Times, Decision Desk HQ, Newsweek (Center), MS NOW (Left), The Center Square (Lean Right), and Mediaite (Lean Left). All of these outlets noted that they had previously referenced the bogus polls in their content, except for MS NOW, which, as of Thursday morning, AllSides did not find coverage from.

For Context: In August, Median Strategies, a "polling company" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass publicly referenced during her reelection campaign, shut down and admitted all of its "polls" were counterfeit. Median also said its operation was a "social experiment." After the Median story broke, an investigation from Straight Arrow News (Center) revealed "shady" circumstances around Wedgewood, including a lack of information on who ran the site. The firm told Straight Arrow it wanted to keep its dealings private.

Bias Notes: Mediaite and Newsweek, which both previously referenced the site's polls, wrote in their headlines that the site's ambition was to fool news outlets. Axios (Lean Left) and The New York Times framed it as a wider issue for political polling at large. The Washington Times (Lean Right) opened by writing that Wedgewood made the Senate race "in deep-red Mississippi" look like it was "suddenly a toss-up." Hungarian Conservative (Lean Right) wrote in its headline that Wedgewood's "polls" often boosted Democrats in "GOP states."

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