California-based polling firm’s websites, social media go dark amid suspicions of fabricated data

Scrutiny over the polling industry is increasing, following multiple scandals exposing polling firms and their data as fabricated. The website and social media accounts for the California-based SoCal Strategies went dark Oct. 22, according to a report from the Washington Post, following the polling aggregator FiftyPlusOne questioning the firm on the legitimacy of its polling data.

FiftyPlusOne previously confirmed that Wedgewood Polls, a polling firm cited by major media outlets such as the New York Times and MSNOW, had fabricated its polling data, as Zeale News reported Oct. 21. Wedgewood admitted in a since-deleted statement on social media that it was a “fictitious entity” and its polls were fake, claiming that the firm was conducting “an experimental project” aimed at exposing how easily manipulated the polling industry is.

Wedgewood’s founders claimed to have previously worked as pollsters at SoCal Strategies. FiftyPlusOne confirmed Oct. 22 that one of Wedgewood’s founders had worked for SoCal Strategies but was reportedly not involved in conducting polls and research. 

However, when FiftyPlusOne requested information from SoCal Strategies regarding alleged “wrongdoing” in conducting its own polling, the firm shut down its website and social media accounts without responding to FiftyPlusOne.

Wedgewood and SoCal Strategies were both included in major polling aggregators and were cited by mainstream media outlets. CatholicVote co-founder and vice president Josh Mercer told Zeale News that fabricated polls can impact elections by demoralizing voters and driving down voter turnout.

“I'm not surprised that political campaigns circulate any poll that casts them in a good light. But media companies are supposed to be more responsible to the public,” he said. “They should refrain from uncritically passing along any poll unless they know the pollster and can verify the methodology of the poll.”

“Too often,” he continued, “media voices circulate a poll uncritically either to advance a narrative they prefer (‘Look, a Democrat is winning in this ultra-red state!’) or because they want to be the first outfit to break the news of the poll.”

However, polling is “not predictive and it is often very flawed,” Mercer observed, and many pollsters allow their own political biases to impact their polling.

“Additionally, many conservative and Republican voters simply refuse to participate in the polls — which leads to skewed results,” he added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made a similar point in an Oct. 25 Fox News interview, arguing that polls anticipating a major Democratic victory in November’s midterm elections are “wrong” and “based on faulty analysis.”

“Look, in the last week … you’ve had two polling organizations nationwide be exposed for completely fraudulent numbers and the more traditional researchers and poll organizations are acknowledging that they’ve been under-sampling Republicans,” he said. “In fact, CNN ran a story less than a week ago, and they said that 14 out of the last 16 October polls in those elections, they under-sampled Republicans by an average of four points.”

Johnson suggested that “Republicans are no longer responding to polls,” recounting that he would frequently ask voters at rallies to raise their hands if they had responded to polls.

“‘Show me your hand if you’ve answered a poll in the last six months.’ There’ll be like three hands among 300 people,” he said. “I’m telling you, these polls are off, all of them, because they’re using faulty analysis.”