A company that published polls showing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong with significant leads has admitted the surveys were fabricated, saying the project was a ‘short-term social experiment’ designed to test how unverified polling information moves through the political media ecosystem.
In a statement posted to its website, Median Strategies said it ‘has concluded its polling project and will not publish additional polls,’ adding that ‘all previously published polling releases have been withdrawn and should not be cited or treated as genuine polling data.’
‘Median Strategies was created as a short-term social experiment examining how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification,’ the statement continued, according to Breitbart News.
Bass ‘Lead’ in L.A. Mayor Race
Prior to the Los Angeles mayoral runoff in November, Median Strategies released a purported poll that showed Bass with a 12-point lead over her opponent, Nithya Raman. That survey was based on responses from 560 voters between July 30 and Aug. 5, with a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The bogus poll also indicated that 16 percent of respondents said they had voted for Spencer Pratt, the Republican candidate for mayor. Of those, 85 percent allegedly said they planned to back Bass in the general election, while only 7 percent said they’d support Raman.
According to the Times, when the outlet repeatedly asked the company about the poll, Median Strategies admitted it was not a genuine survey.
‘Median Strategies was created as a short-term social experiment to examine how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification,’ the company told the Times. ‘We are not seeking publicity or attribution for the individuals involved and are declining interviews.’
Hong’s Wisconsin Primary ‘Edge’
Median Strategies also released a fictional poll showing Hong, a Democratic socialist candidate for Wisconsin governor, with a 23-point lead over rival David Crowley in the primary, as reported by Mediaite. In reality, Hong lost to Crowley by less than one percentage point.
In a post on X, the company acknowledged the error, writing, ‘We got Wisconsin wrong β and by quite a margin, too.’
The revelation has raised concerns about how easily fabricated political data can be amplified by news outlets and social media, especially in tight races where even small shifts in perception can influence voter behavior.
Neither Bass, Raman, Hong, nor Crowley has publicly commented on the fake polls as of this writing.
Source: www.breitbart.com β https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/18/polling-firm-showing-karen-bass-francesca-hong-in-lead-admits-fake-polls-short-term-social-experiment/