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National Polling Company Admits It’s Totally Fake — Crows it Was ‘Far Too Easy’ to Get Major Media Outlets to Bite (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/politics@sh.itjust.works
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The New York Times has added an editor’s note to an article featuring a Wedgewood poll that reads: “This page previously included surveys from Wedgewood Polls. On Oct. 20, after being questioned by the polling site FiftyPlusOne, Wedgewood released a statement admitting it had fabricated data for its polls. All of Wedgewood’s polls have been removed from our poll tracking project.”

Earlier this month, MS NOW featured a Wedgewood Poll showing Jocelyn Benson (D) with a 10-point lead over Trump-backed John James (R) in the Michigan gubernatorial race.

In addition to The Times and MS NOW, scores of media outlets and prominent poll aggregators cited Wedgewood polling data, including; Newsweek, Decision Desk HQ, and Mediaite.

https://archive.is/CYJxV

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[–] 40 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Me with my hand in the cookie jar, staring at my mom, who just caught me red-handed: "It was a test! I was just checking whether you would catch me, wow, you did it Mom, congrats!

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  • [–] 10 points 2 weeks ago

    Seriously. Without further evidence this was a "test", this announcement is worth little to nothing.

    Also, if it was a test, how is the data being included a "failure"? These outlets aggregate a lot of polls precisely to mitigate bad data. It's basically doing with polls what the polls do with people.

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    • [–] 29 points 2 weeks ago

    That's what I would say if I got caught using fake polls to game kalshi bets

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    [–] 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    https://blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone-just-caught-a-pollster

    On Tuesday, Oct. 20, FiftyPlusOne reached out to Wedgewood Polls, a self-professed polling firm, with a request for comment on an investigation we had conducted into their alleged survey research. They did not respond to our request, but instead posted a public statement on social media admitting that they had been fabricating data. They also reached out directly in social media DMs minutes before publishing their memo with an official comment: “Fuck you,” plus the name of an individual not affiliated with FiftyPlusOne.

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    • [–] 13 points 2 weeks ago

    While yes, there is the mentality of "that's what I would say if I got caught too!", they should have pre registered and sealed it as a valid experiment or signed some sealed affidavit to be revealed along with this statement. It would have made the impact even more impressive.

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    [–] 12 points 2 weeks ago

    A fictional group run by a small number of industry veterans. This feels way too slap dash for people putting their integrity on the line. They probably got used because they looked legit.

    Also how did their secret polling "experiment" get crowd funded? You'd think advertising that legitimately would have ruined the experiment. Who were the people funding this and what did they think they were funding?

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    [–] 18 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    "Sparking a conversation" is a funny way of saying "provide an instruction manual to bad actors."

    It's like releasing an unpatched security exploit to "Spark a conversation."

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    • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago

    i think this is fantastic. i want to know, out of curiosity, how “far” they got by name though. being from the industry, and i bet it’s a small world, a name might bring with it some accidental creds. part of the equation for sure. just curious.

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    [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Nice try.

    I predict absolutely nothing will change.

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    • [–] 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    The only poll that matters is November 3rd

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    • [–] 0 points 2 weeks ago

    These people should be banished from society.

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