NYT & Nate Silver Included a Fake Pollster Pushing Democrats

Another fake poster, Wedgewood Polls, posted fake polls that so-called top pollsters immediately accepted. Wedgewood Polls originally claimed to be an up-and-coming polling company, but 50PlusOne caught them and revealed their entire operation was fake.

Wedgewood then came clean, saying it was a “social experiment” like the last fake polling company. The company crowdfunded, claiming they were legitimate.

Their polls showed the Democrats winning. They had terrorist-tied El Sayed up by six in Michigan.

Only one poll was legitimate. According to Wedgewood, the Nebraska poll was the only legitimate one, which they used as a baseline.

The polls appeared in The New York Times and Nate Silver averages, which says little about the Times or Silver. They just include polls without checking on their legitimacy? No one questioned them, and they were welcomed into the ranks of the top pollsters.

Their fake poll shows Talarico up by two in Texas, Brown up by four in Ohio, El Sayed up by six in Michigan, Hamilton up by two in Kansas, and Jackson up by four in Maine.

This is nuts.

Wedgewood’s Explanation

“Having previously worked in the polling and research sector, we watched as the public’s trust in polling eroded alongside a rise in unverified, low-quality methodology,” stated the account. “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.”

“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,” said the statement. “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.”

In both cases, Wedgewood came clean after 50PlusOne caught them and confronted them. The day before Wedgewood crowdfunded. Significantly, they raised money through crowdfunding for polls presented as legitimate. They scammed people out of money with fake polls.

Wedgewood’s Full Statement

Image: AI Grok