Fake polling company might have swung some 2026 primary elections

A now-defunct fake polling company might have swung some primaries this year, potentially changing the outcome of contentious midterm races. Wedgewood Polls admitted to fabricating data Tuesday, after it was approached for comment by polling website FiftyPlusOne on an investigation it conducted into Wedgewood’s fake research. Wedgewood operated as if it were a legitimate polling firm, taking money from donors to conduct polls and sharing raw survey data — which was found to be bogus — with FiftyPlusOne, the polling website said. "We wanted to test a simple hypothesis: How easy is it for an entirely fabricated polling firm to gain traction, be taken seriously, and expose how little scrutiny exists in media and public commentary?" Wedgewood wrote on X. "The short answer: Far too easy."Whether Wedgewood actually fabricated data as an experiment on the lack of vetting in the polling industry or not, it could’ve had real-life consequences on some Democrats’ chances during the primaries. Wedgewood Polls admitted to fabricating data Tuesday in a social experiment that Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow said devastated her campaign for U.S. senator as donations ‘dried up’ (Getty Images)Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state senator, suspended her campaign for U.S. Senate in July, about a month before progressive Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary. She shared how one of Wedgewood’s fake polls devastated her campaign before she decided to drop out of the race. “As one of the candidates featured in these polls - the infamous one in late June that showed me plummeting into single digits (which was at odds with our internals) - here's the impact of this ‘experiment,’ McMorrow wrote on X Tuesday. She said, “Donations dried up, volunteers were devastated and pleading for guidance on what to do [and] reporters hounded me with calls to drop out.”“Sure, a point was proven. Polling is broken. But tens of thousands of people poured their hearts, time, energy, hard-earned money into something they believed in - for a year-and-a-half, and it was treated like a game,” McMorrow said.The Wedgewood polling scandal comes as several competitive races are playing out ahead of November’s midterm elections. President Donald Trump has been hosting nightly rallies in states like Ohio, Kansas and Texas — where Democrats are gaining ground (Getty Images)Wedgewood also posted a fabricated poll showing Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, leading in the Wisconsin primary election for governor before moderate Democrat David Crowley won, according to Politico. The outlet also noted another fake Wedgewood poll showing the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi — which has voted red in every Senate race since at least 1988, according to 270toWin — within reach for Democrats.Scott Colom, the Democratic candidate for Mississippi Senate, showed the poll to his press list as proof there was “massive momentum” behind him, per Politico. The Independent attempted to contact Wedgewood, but its X account and website have been taken down.The Wedgewood polling scandal comes as several competitive races are playing out. Republicans are fighting hard to keep control of Congress, with President Donald Trump hosting nightly rallies in states like Ohio, Kansas and Texas — where Democrats are gaining ground.