Fake Pollsters And Those Who Loved Them

American Thinker ^ | 25 Oct. 2026 | Clarice Feldman

[MtnClimber]

In a series of disclosures, four polling outfits have recently been exposed as utter frauds, fabricating data and sharing fraudulent reports. These fake polls have appeared in media election surveys, with some included in well-known polling aggregators. Some scamsters appear to have profited from things like crowdfunding, some may have been paid by interested parties -- who knows? -- but every one of them is guilty of interfering with elections. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears to be about to investigate these scamsters and the media which, blindly or not, crookedly shared these lies. It’s my own view that if thieves can figure out how to profit from cheating, they will, and I think it’s time for a close law enforcement examination of election prediction markets and any connection with political polling outfits.

The Scamsters Unveiled

In August and this month, four different polling outfits were exposed for fabricating data.

In August, Median Strategies admitted inventing polls on the Los Angeles mayoral contest and the election races in Nevada and Wisconsin as a “social experiment”.

That same month, an outfit called Public Sentiment admitted having altered data in the Florida GOP primary polls in order to favor a client.

This month two more firms were exposed: Wedgewood Polls and SoCal Strategies. Wedgewood (about which I can find the most follow-up) was widely promoted by the NY Times and the Silver Bulletin, its most broadly touted figures promoted Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

SoCal was also unmasked this month, after people started poking around into its personnel ties to Wedgewood .

Jeff Childers reviews SoCal’s dance of the seven veils:

On Thursday, polling aggregator FiftyPlusOne -- the same outfit that torpedoed Wedgewood Polls earlier this week -- announced it had received an anonymous tip raising questions about another sketchy polling

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

[MtnClimber]

I wonder who their fake polling was supposed to help.

[Ex-Con777]

It was originally designed to make the cheat sound plausible. A candidate (almost always a democrat) would raise eyebrows and scrutiny if the ballot returns greatly exceeded the polling data.

As a byproduct, some scum also figured a way to use the newly formed betting markets as a cash cow.

EC

[Robert DeLong]

Wonder no more, Deemorats.

Wedgewood Polling and Median Strategies both fabricated data that predominantly favored Democrats.

Wedgewood Polling (exposed Oct 21, 2026) published 15–17 fake polls showing Democratic leads in battleground states like Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Maine, Ohio, and Kansas, typically running ~1 point more favorable to Democrats than the consensus. It also boosted far-left primary candidates, such as Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Francesca Hong in Wisconsin.

Median Strategies (exposed Aug 2026) released fake polls showing far-left candidates leading in the Los Angeles mayoral race and Wisconsin Democratic primary

. While both firms claimed their actions were "social experiments" with no intent to sway elections, critics argue the data functioned as suppression polls to boost Democratic fundraising and credibility while potentially undermining GOP confidence or primary electability.

[fella]

Polls give the results they’re paid give just like climate change studies.