Media at Center of Fake Midterm Poll Scandal

Several mainstream media outlets (e.g., The New York Times, MS NOW, Newsweek) ran with a fabricated midterm-election poll showing that the Democrat candidate was leading the Republican candidate by 10 points in the Michigan gubernatorial race.

A Wedgewood poll has now admitted that it made up its own data regarding the race between Jocelyn Benson and John James to prove a point.

As reported by the Washington Examiner:

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.

An outfit called Wedgewood Polls released a statement on social media Tuesday acknowledging most of its results were not legitimate, but rather some kind of experiment designed to show serious problems with how polls are conducted and then reported on by the media.

No, you’re not experiencing déjà vu. Another fake midterm poll scandal has broken wide open after it was picked up and cited and sourced by mainstream media outlets.

Wedgewood Polls has now admitted that this fabricated poll was a social experiment to see how much the mainstream media was vetting its sources. The answer, it appears, is not very much. 

As the statement from Wedgewood put it:

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.

That Wedgewood was able to expose that major news organizations were not properly vetting their sources and were instead relying on a new, untested company that claimed its numbers – including some pretty egregious ones compared to some other polls – were all sourced, and they just ran with them, should be concerning regardless of which side of the political aisle you fall on.

It certainly makes it appear as though the mainstream media is reporting whatever supports a particular narrative rather than just stating the facts as they are.

Now there are certainly arguments to be made about the morality of Wedgewood’s little experiment, whether they were intentionally misleading the public, or even if it could be called a form of election interference. After all, according to one former Michigan Senate candidate, the results of another bogus poll, which essentially showed her losing, directly affected her campaign, ultimately causing her to drop out.

But placing those intellectual debates aside for a minute, what it does is blow the whistle on the media for not actually vetting who and what they’re sourcing before they report it as news. I understand we live in a 24/7 media cycle that demands these outlets continually churn out new content, but they should still value and protect their journalistic reputation. At least we’d sure hope they do.

If you’ll remember back in August, we told you about another fake poll that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was bragging about because it showed her leading the race, before it was revealed as a fabrication. That polling company also admitted to releasing fake polls, also focusing on the gubernatorial races in both Wisconsin and Nevada.

Now that should have been a wake-up call to the media then. You’ve got to vet your sources. But it should also serve as a big wake-up call for all of us voters – you shouldn’t just blindly accept the poll results you hear reported, because you don’t even know if they’re real. All you can do is research the candidates yourself, and vote your conscience, regardless of who the polls say is winning or losing.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of this latest report of fake poll reporting. We were also joined by Special Presidential Envoy Ric Grenell to discuss the frightening voting procedures in his home state of California, where government officials will ask if voters are citizens but won’t bother checking for verification.

Watch the full broadcast below: