By Townhall Chicago News Staff
A group calling itself Wedgwood Polling published months of fabricated polling data showing Democratic candidates leading, and the numbers were picked up by major polling aggregators before anyone questioned the source, according to a public statement from the group.
Wedgwood Polling was created by polling industry veterans. Most of its releases had no real polling operation behind them, the group said. Its numbers were added to aggregators including The New York Times, 50+1 and Vote Hub.
“How easy is it for an entirely fabricated polling firm to gain traction, be taken seriously? Short answer: far too easy,” the group said in its statement. “Despite having no history, formal credentials or real data behind the vast majority of our releases, Wedgwood Polling was added to major polling aggregators, including the New York Times.”
The group said it conducted one legitimate, crowdfunded poll in Nebraska to serve as a real data baseline for comparison against its fabricated releases. The fabricated numbers consistently favored Democratic candidates while remaining within range of other published polls, the group said.
It was not immediately clear whether the aggregators that published Wedgwood’s numbers have since removed the data from their sites.
