A polling outfit called Wedgewood Polling has admitted it fabricated survey data used in several high-profile Democratic primaries this year, prompting outrage from candidates, strategists and media organizations that had relied on its numbers.
In a statement released Tuesday night, Wedgewood said it used “fabricated numbers” as part of an “experimental project to demonstrate the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern political polling industry.” The firm said the stunt “was never intended to sway an election” and was meant as a “wake-up call” about data integrity and vetting standards.
The fallout has been most acute in Michigan, where Wedgewood’s polling was cited during the Democratic Senate primary pitting Abdul El-Sayed against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Rep. Haley Stevens. McMorrow said the fake numbers caused donations to dry up and left her fielding calls from reporters pressing her to drop out.
“Sure, a point was proven. Polling is broken. But tens of thousands of people poured their hearts, time, energy, hard-earned money into something they believed in – for a year-and-a-half, and it was treated like a game,” McMorrow said in a statement on X. “Trust is already at an all-time low. We don’t get out of this mess without rebuilding trust. And media – who loves to ride the drama of a pollercoaster – needs to take a hard look at what’s legitimate and what’s not.”
El-Sayed advanced from the primary and is now in a tight Senate race against former Rep. Mike Rogers. Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth, who ran a super PAC supporting McMorrow, said the fake poll “was used by several donors to pull back funding at a time we were being outspent by $80 million.”
In Wisconsin, the nonpartisan aggregator Political Polls cited Wedgewood’s numbers showing socialist candidate Francesca Hong with an edge over Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in the governor’s race. Hong went on to lose the Democratic primary to the establishment-backed candidate.
Wedgewood’s reach extended well beyond the Midwest. In Texas, a July Wedgewood poll claimed James Talarico led state Attorney General Ken Paxton among Hispanic voters by 64% to 30%. A separate crowdfunding effort under the name “Wedgewood Polls” had sought $5,000 to fund polling in Nebraska’s gubernatorial and Senate races, raising only $500 of that goal.
Major outlets pull the numbers
The New York Times said it removed 15 Wedgewood polls released between June and October after the fabrication admission, noting the firm had previously answered questions about its pollster identities, sampling methods and funding sources during vetting. Decision Desk HQ said it removed 17 Wedgewood polls from its projections, though it said doing so did not change its projected seat totals or chamber control probabilities in the Senate or House.
Independent outlet FiftyPlusOne said it had already been investigating Wedgewood before the firm’s statement went public. Co-founder G. Elliott Morris wrote on X that the outlet had emailed Wedgewood for comment ahead of publishing its own findings, and accused the firm of using the “social experiment” framing to “cover up their fraud.”
Democrats call for accountability
Veteran Democratic strategist and former Kamala Harris advisor Mike Nellis did not mince words.
“These people are absolute scumbags. They can try to claim that they have some moral high ground here, but they lied about their polling data, got caught, and are freaking out because they’ve committed fraud,” Nellis told Fox News Digital. “The people responsible for this should be run out of American politics, and if they can be, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Nellis also raised questions about the crowdfunded Nebraska effort, asking whether that money would be returned and whether anyone would face prosecution. Former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor described Wedgewood’s conduct on X as “lying and fraud.”
The episode lands amid long-running skepticism of polling accuracy on the right, with President Trump and other Republicans frequently questioning survey methodology. Polls in 2016 famously showed Hillary Clinton with an edge over Trump, a result that did not hold on Election Day. With control of Congress at stake in November, the Wedgewood fabrication has sharpened scrutiny of how campaigns, donors and newsrooms verify the data shaping political narratives.
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