Polling Firm Wedgewood Admits Fabricating Survey Data
Wedgewood Polls, a small election survey firm, admitted on social media on Tuesday, October 20, that it had fabricated its survey numbers. In its statement, the firm described the project as a "social experiment" and a "wake-up call" meant to expose weaknesses and a lack of oversight in political polling, according to The Guardian.
The admission followed a request for comment from FiftyPlusOne, a polling and election analysis site. FiftyPlusOne had been preparing an investigation into the firm's surveys and data, and had given Wedgewood until midnight to respond to its questions, it said in its own report. Instead of answering, Wedgewood posted a public statement on its X account under a title framed as a call for major reform of the polling industry. FiftyPlusOne said the firm had also sent it profane direct messages minutes before that statement was published.
Wedgewood's statement alleged that FiftyPlusOne, the New York Times and other poll aggregators had not vetted the firm before publishing its polls. FiftyPlusOne said that claim was false. The Guardian reported that Wedgewood said the project was designed to highlight a lack of scrutiny of the polling sector by mainstream media.
The fabricated surveys reached a wide audience. Newsweek, The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Beast and the Washington Examiner reproduced them, and the New York Times, Nate Silver, VoteHub and FiftyPlusOne included Wedgewood's results in their polling databases. After the admission, Decision Desk HQ removed 17 polls from its race-level polling lists and averages. The New York Times said in an editor's note that it had removed all of its Wedgewood-sourced polls from its poll tracking project.
Wedgewood first appeared in June 2026, describing itself as an election survey firm conducting independent political research. Its website was registered on June 26, and its X account was created that month. In August, Straight Arrow News reported that the website, hosted on Google Sites, listed no employee names, no phone number and no location. When FiftyPlusOne asked who its principals were, the firm gave two names, Jack Sims and Andrew Prater. FiftyPlusOne independently confirmed that Sims had previous experience in the polling industry.
Doubts had surfaced earlier. A Washington Monthly columnist wrote on July 10 that Wedgewood's first poll of the Louisiana Republican primary runoff was "wildly wrong." On August 16, an Urban Milwaukee journalist called the firm "a shady outfit" after its poll showed Francesca Hong at 30% in the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary, when legitimate polls had her with far less support. Democratic pollster Adam Carlson said a person at Wedgewood told him the firm has two members, one progressive and one conservative. The firm declined to reveal their identities or join a video call, citing doxing and harassment of one member.
FiftyPlusOne said it received a tip in early October suggesting Wedgewood had been faking its data. It obtained the raw data for Wedgewood's most recent survey, a Mississippi Senate poll that Wedgewood said was conducted using an online survey platform. Wedgewood shared raw data with FiftyPlusOne on October 15, which FiftyPlusOne later confirmed was fraudulent. FiftyPlusOne also reported that Wedgewood had collected donor money to fund crowd-funded polls.
The episode has also drawn a response from federal regulators. Forbes reported on October 21 that Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), warned that broadcasters could violate the agency's news distortion policies by airing "fake polls."
