Polling firm admits to fabricating data

🗞️ Story file #784

Polling firm admits to fabricating data

Oct 21, 7 PM ET to Oct 23, 1 PM ET

16outlets carried it
🫏8 · 1 · 7🐘left · center · right
1.8 dayson the front pages
14front pages at once, at its peak
18 minof TV captions
7people retold it online

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Oct 21, 7 PM ETfirst on a front page: PBS NewsHour
Oct 21, 9 PM ETfirst on TV: Fox News
Oct 22, 8 AM ETretold online by 7 people
Oct 22, 1 PM ETpeak: on 14 front pages

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 21, 7 PM to Oct 23, 1 PM ET (peak 15), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

📌 linked by aggregators: Real Clear Politics

💬 quoted: “social experiment.” 2 “experimental project” “Social Experiment” 3 “It was treated like a game” “Killed” “Far Too Easy”

🗣️ only one side says: 🫏 polling company 🐘 polling firm

✏️ 4 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

Just the News (2 wordings): “You Vote: With news of a company admitting it has been releasing fake polling data, what say you?” → “Fake polling firm that publicized bogus polls favoring Dems, claims it was an 'experimental project'”
Newsweek (2 wordings): “Fake Polling Firm Duped Media in ‘Social Experiment’” → “Failed Senate Candidate Says Fake Poll ‘Killed’ Her Campaign”
PBS NewsHour (2 wordings): “A company says its polls were fake. Here's what happened” → “An alleged national pollster says it faked its data as a 'social experiment.' Here's what to know”
Townhall (4 wordings): “Remember When Some Were Saying the Polls Were Fake? Well, This Is Quite the Bombshell.” → “Polling Another Firm Has Been Busted for Peddling Fake Polls Matt Vespa”

Every outlet's first headline (16), left to right by AllSides rating

Raw Story Ex-Senate hopeful erupts after pollster admits faking data: ‘It was treated like a game’ Oct 21, 4 PM ET
Slate A Fake Polling Company Just Got Busted—but Not Soon Enough Oct 22, 6 PM ET
The Guardian Pollster admits to fabricating data for ‘social experiment’ to expose flaws of industry Oct 22, 3 AM ET
Mediaite National Polling Company Admits It’s Totally Fake — Crows it Was ‘Far Too Easy’ to Get Major Media Outlets to Bite Oct 21, 9 AM ET
PBS NewsHour A company says its polls were fake. Here's what happened Oct 21, 7 PM ET
Politico How a fake pollster may have moved some 2026 elections Oct 22, 11 AM ET
The Economist The curious, predictable case of the fake poll Oct 22, 10 AM ET
The Independent Fake polling company might have swung some 2026 primary elections Oct 22, 4 PM ET
Newsweek Fake Polling Firm Duped Media in ‘Social Experiment’ Oct 21, 10 AM ET
Just the News You Vote: With news of a company admitting it has been releasing fake polling data, what say you? Oct 21, 10 PM ET
Breitbart Polling Firm Admits to Fake Data, Says It Was 'Social Experiment' Oct 21, 1 PM ET
Newsmax Fake Pollster May Have Moved Some Elections Oct 22, 1 PM ET
PJ Media A Pollster Just Admitted Faking Its Numbers, and the Fallout Is Huge! Oct 21, 2 PM ET
Red State You Can't Make This Up (but They Did): Polling Firm Admits Fabricating Election Results (Updated) Oct 21, 4 PM ET
The Western Journal Polling Group Trusted by Mainstream Outlets Admits Its Polls Were Fake Oct 21, 9 PM ET
Townhall Remember When Some Were Saying the Polls Were Fake? Well, This Is Quite the Bombshell. Oct 21, 9 AM ET

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

CNN9 min

Fox News8 min

MSNOW51 s

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT SPEAKS OUT AGAINST FAKE POLLS CNN, 5 min
TRUMP'S FCC CHAIR ISSUES WARNING ABOUT "FAKE POLLS" CNN, 3 min
DEMS FURIOUS OVER "FAKE POLLS BOOSTING CANDIDATES (R) Fox News, 3 min
MEDIA RIPPED FOR USING "EXPERIMENTAL" BOGUS POLL Fox News, 2 min
FAKE POLLS SPARK OUTRAGE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS Fox News, 62 s
FAKE POLLS SPARK FURY AMONG DEMOCRATS Fox News, 53 s
602 LIKELY VOTERS | OCTOBER 9 - 13 | MARGIN OF ERROR: +/-4.0% MSNOW, 51 s
DEMS FURIOUS OVER FABRICATED POLLING DATA Fox News, 32 s

what people online made of it

🧩 How it's being told

The stories under this news, from our motif index, and who told each: the shows we follow by their lean, people online, fact-checkers. A story people tell, not a claim that it's true; claims are matched to this story by our tools, so a link can be wrong.

🧩 Polls are manipulated ⚖️ 2 center shows 🐘 6 right shows
“A fake polling organization released fraudulent results for a Michigan Democratic Senate primary.” and 1 more
🧩 Disinformation campaign ⚖️ 1 center show
“A fake polling organization released fraudulent results for a Michigan Democratic Senate primary.”

🧶 Retold online

They are lying about everything to make their side look good or to make money. Oct 22: told by 7 people; told before on Oct 27, Oct 15

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Polling Firm Media Ex-Senate Hopeful

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.