A little-known US polling firm, Wedgewood Polls, has admitted that it invented survey results that were widely reported by national media, The Guardian reports.
The firm made the admission on social media on Tuesday after the polling analysis site FiftyPlusOne confronted it over discrepancies in raw data from its latest Mississippi Senate survey. Wedgewood described the project as a social experiment meant to expose weak scrutiny and low barriers to entry in political polling.
Its numbers had been reported by outlets including Newsweek and The Hill and included in poll databases such as the New York Times tracker. Decision Desk HQ said it had removed 17 Wedgewood polls from its averages, and the New York Times said it had removed all of them. The firm appeared in June with no named staff, and its accuracy had been questioned by journalists since July.
Source: The Guardian
