“Experimental Polling” – ANOTHER Fake Poll Exposed Covering NUMEROUS Elections– FCC’s Brendan Carr Issues Warning to Broadcasters

Last August, the LA Times uncovered a “short term social experiment” allegedly intended to determine how unverified information could be distributed to the masses.

A company called Median Strategies released a “poll” showing that LA Mayor Karen Bass was leading Nithya Raman by nearly 12 percentage points.  But more notably, it suggested that Los Angelenos who had voted for Spencer Pratt in the primary were shifting their support to the disgraced LA mayor.

The “poll” was amplified by the California Post under the headline, “Spencer Pratt’s Voters Could Be Deciding Factor in LA Mayor Showdown According to Latest Poll.”

The entire thing was bogus.

Now this…

Fast forward to the Wisconsin 2026 gubernatorial primary.  A “polling” outfit called Wedgewood published a “poll” showing Francesca Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), leading the Wisconsin race.  According to Urban Milwaukee columnist Bruce Murphy, the Wedgewood poll showed Hong at 30% while other polls showed her with “far less of the vote.”

In Michigan, Mallory McMorrow was running against Abdul El-Sayed in a hotly contested Democrat primary for the U.S. Senate.  Wedgewood also published a “poll” in that race showing McMorrow’s numbers “plummeting” to just single-digit support.

The polls from Wedgewood, all of them, were fake.  And much like Median Strategies polling in Los Angeles, the consumer of the fake “social experiment” were not afforded that disclaimer.

FiftyPlusOne, which describes itself as “a website for non-partisan, data-driven political news” with a focus on polling aggregation, reached out to Wedgewood following an investigation into its “alleged survey research.”

According to FiftyPlusOne’s blog post, Wedgewood published a public statement on social media (to a now-deleted account) admitting to fabricating data.  Wedgewood also sent the blog a DM response saying, “F*** you,” according to FiftyPlusOne.

According to an X post from Mario Nawfal purporting to show the public statement and polling results from the “experiment,” Wedgewood conducted this “experiment” to demonstrate “the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern polling industry.”

The statement reads:

Despite having no history, formal credentials, or real data behind the vast majority of our releases, Wedgewood Polling was added to major polling aggregators, including The New York Times, FiftyPlusOne, and VoteHub, and repeatedly treated as a legitimate data source.

Our fabricated numbers were given instant credibility across national media platforms – including being cited on air and in reporting by outlets such as MS NOW.  The ease with which unverified figures were absorbed into mainstream political narratives highlights a systemic breakdown in media vetting and data aggregation.

 

🚨🇺🇸 Many Americans do NOT trust political polling, and it’s hard to blame them after stories like this…

Wedgewood Polls, cited frequently by the New York Times and other mainstream outlets, just ADMITTED to FAKING THEIR DATA.

They put out the statement after an investigation by FiftyPlusOne had them dead to rights…

So who did their polls favor, inaccurately??

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed candidates, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Maine.

In Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed is running, Dem challenger Mallory McMorrow cited the poll as specifically damaging her campaign, because it showed her losing badly to the GOP compared to him.

The bogus polling firm also showed Francesca Hong winning in Wisconsin, when in reality she ended up losing her primary by about 4,000 votes.

The NYT included every Wedgewood poll on its polling page going back to at least June…

Wedgewood is the THIRD polling firm this year to be exposed for fabricating data!!!!

Source: FiftyPlusOne, NYT / Writer: Michael

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 21, 2026

The experimental “polls” appear to date back to at least July and cover races in Maine, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Georgia, Michigan, and Mississippi.

In Georgia, the fake poll showed Jon Ossoff up 10 points over Mike Collins as recently as October 2.  It showed James Talarico up two points over Ken Paxton in late July.   And just last week, it showed Abdul El-Sayed up six points against Mike Rogers in Michigan.

McMorrow, who was a subject of the fake polls in Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary, posted to X that, following the fake poll, “donations dried up” and “volunteers were devastated and pleading for guidance on what to do” while reporters “hounded [her] with calls to drop out.”

In Wisconsin, Fake Polls Align with Real Polls – And NONE Were Correct

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Wedgewood’s “polling” in Wisconsin showed Francesca Hong leading by over 20 points.  But the fake poll wasn’t alone.

The last five polls for the Democrat gubernatorial primary showed Hong leading by 18 to 29 points, an insurmountable lead by most standards.

The alleged results after a late-night USB upload error in, of course, Milwaukee showed Crowley edging out Hong by 0.5 percentage points to move on to the Wisconsin governor’s race next month.

Rather than asking, “How was Wedgewood’s fake poll able to align so closely with the ‘reputable’ pollsters?” perhaps the question should be, “Why did they all get the race so wildly wrong?”

Last 5 Wisconsin Governor Democratic Primary Polls

State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +22
Public Policy Polling: 🔵 Hong +18
Marquette University: 🔵 Hong +25
State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +29
Public Policy Polling: 🔵 Hong +20

Results (88% Reporting): 🟡Crowley +0.5 https://t.co/FRqVIOiVT1

— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) August 12, 2026

The massive swing is reminiscent of an ABC News/Washington Post poll from October 28, 2020, just a week before the 2020 election, showing Joe Biden leading by 17 points.  Most of the other “reputable” polls at that time showed Biden leading by an average of 8 points.

Ultimately, Joe Biden would (allegedly) win by 0.63 percentage points.  Given the influence and pressure that Michigan’s McMorrow claims to have felt from Wedgewood’s fake poll, how much did the polling misfires by ABC News/Washington Post and others influence the Wisconsin presidential race?

FCC Chair Issues Warning

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, issued a warning in an X post yesterday, claiming:

During this election season, there has been “a significant surge in entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls designed to do nothing more than interfere with the regular functioning of the electoral process and alter the normal patterns of voter turnout and enthusiasm.”

Carr singles out journalists and broadcasters for amplifying these polls “without regard to basic journalistic ethics” and without informing the public that the polls “lack [a] scientific, accurate, or even real basis.”

He states that broadcasters are “prohibited by the terms of their federal licenses” from engaging in “News Distortion” or “promoting Broadcast Hoaxes,” and could violate their regulatory obligations by airing these fake polls.

During this election season, there has been a significant surge in entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls designed to do nothing more than interfere with the regular functioning of the electoral process and alter the normal patterns of voter turnout and enthusiasm.

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 prohibited by the terms of their federal licenses from engaging in News Distortion or promoting Broadcast Hoaxes. It is important that broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations. After all, the country benefits greatly when Americans can trust and rely on the media to report the news fairly and accurately.

Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes by airing Polls that would violate their regulatory obligations. If broadcasters believe they should provide their viewers with additional context and information about Polls they have covered, they can now take those actions consistent with FCC regulations.

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) October 21, 2026