Dems Melt Down After Pollster That Boosted Left-Wing Candidates Is Exposed As Fraud

A firm identifying itself as Wedgewood Polls issued a shocking public statement on Tuesday in which they admitted that the large majority of its released survey results were not based on genuine respondent data. The organization described the activity as an experimental project designed to test how readily fabricated figures could gain acceptance from media outlets and polling aggregators.

Wedgewood’s releases had been included in polling averages maintained by The New York Times and Decision Desk HQ, among others. Both organizations stated that they removed the firm’s results after the admission, with the Times citing 15 polls issued between June and October.

The figures had also circulated in coverage of several Democratic primary contests. In Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary, a June Wedgewood survey showed progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed at 46 percent, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens at 39 percent, and state Senator Mallory McMorrow at just 9 percent.

The same release also claimed that McMorrow was the only Democratic Party candidate polled who trailed Republican nominee Mike Rogers in a hypothetical general election matchup. El-Sayed’s campaign had heavily referenced the numbers down the stretch of the campaign.

In Wisconsin, Wedgewood results had shown Democratic socialist Francesca Hong with a substantial edge in the state’s gubernatorial primary. Hong was ultimately defeated by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley after popular odds sites like Kalshi and Polymarket had Hong’s chances of winning above 90 percent in the final day of polling.

McMorrow, who suspended her own Senate campaign on July 5, stated in a social media post that the Wedgewood poll dealt a significant blow to her campaign. “As one of the candidates featured in these polls—the infamous one in late June that showed me plummeting into single digits (which was at odds with our internals)—here’s the impact of this ‘experiment’: Donations dried up. Volunteers were devastated and pleading for guidance on what to do. Reporters hounded me with calls to drop out,” McMorrow posted on X.

“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. Our volunteers gave their all. And then some. I felt like I had let so many of them down,” she continued.

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As one of the candidates featured in these polls – the infamous one in late June that showed me plummeting into single digits (which was at odds with our internals) – here's the impact of this "experiment"

– Donations dried up
– Volunteers were devastated and pleading for… https://t.co/kJL9N7o7X3

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) October 21, 2026

McMorrow added that the Wedgewood poll arrived shortly after another survey from Mitchell Research & Communications also placed her in single digits. Her campaign had challenged the Mitchell release over methodology concerns involving an open SurveyMonkey link that permitted repeated responses, though the sponsoring outlet declined to publish it.

McMorrow characterized the successive releases as a “one-two punch” that reinforced a narrative of collapse at a point when her team had already committed resources to advertising.

Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, a former adviser to Kamala Harris, told Fox News that the firm’s operators “lied about their polling data, got caught, and are freaking out because they’ve committed fraud.” He stated that those responsible should face professional consequences and, where applicable, legal ones, and that both parties along with media organizations should reexamine verification practices.

The episode follows a comparable admission earlier in 2026 by Median Strategies, which stated that its surveys projecting leads for candidates including Francesca Hong and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were fabricated as part of a short-term social experiment.

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