Fake polling results published as an “experimental project” to “expose how little scrutinization exists in media” were cited by the likes of The New York Times, MS Now and Mediaite, a confession by Wedgewood Polling reveals.
In a statement posted online Tuesday evening, Wedgewood explained “Why We Did This”:
“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 scrutinization exists in media and public commentary?”
“The short answer: Far too easy,” Wedgewood concluded.
On Wednesday, Mediaite reported that it, along with MS Now and other outlets, had been duped by Wedgewood’s experiment:
“Earlier this month, MS NOW featured a Wedgewood Poll showing Jocelyn Benson (D) with a 10-point lead over Trump-backed John James (R) in the Michigan gubernatorial race.
“In addition to The Times and MS NOW, scores of media outlets and prominent poll aggregators cited Wedgewood polling data, including; Newsweek, Decision Desk HQ, and Mediaite.”
In its article, Newsweek admitted that it had fallen for the hoax and added to the list of outlets that had done the same:
“Newsweek has retracted three articles and corrected others. Other publications that reproduced Wedgewood surveys included The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Examiner.”
The New York Times has published an editors’ note addressing its citation of Wedgewood’s fake results. “This page previously included surveys from Wedgewood Polls,” the note explains, promising that “All of Wedgewood’s polls have been removed from our poll tracking project”:
“In all, The Times’s poll tracker included 15 polls released by Wedgewood between June and October, some of which included multiple races.”
Reports of fake poll numbers are far more than just an indictment of today’s media, however – since they may be affecting the results of elections, The Washington Examiner warns:
“Another fake polling scandal has hit less than two weeks before the midterm elections, ripping open old wounds about the Michigan Democratic Senate primary and renewing skepticism about pollsters as they increasingly forecast a blue wave on Nov. 3.”
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“Senate races are close enough that even a minor polling error could drastically alter the picture of which party is favored to win control. And polls have misfired in some recent races.”
‘Republicans, including Trump, have speculated that the polls, often conducted by the media or universities, are meant to demoralize them,” The Washington Examiner reports.
