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[POLITICS] · United States · 29 sources

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Part of situation: LA mayoral race: Bass and Raman tied in final week (33 clusters)

Median Strategies admits to fabricating election polls in social experiment

Median Strategies election misinformation fake polling Los Angeles mayoral race social experiment

Median Strategies, a previously unknown polling firm, has admitted to fabricating multiple election surveys across the United States, describing the operation as a “short-term social experiment” to observe how unverified data spreads through the political ecosystem.

The firm released several phony polls, including one in the Los Angeles mayoral race that falsely showed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass holding a 12-point lead over challenger Nithya Raman. The Bass campaign briefly amplified the results on social media before deleting the post once the deception was revealed. Another fabricated survey claimed Wisconsin Democratic candidate Francesca Hong held a commanding 23-point lead in her gubernatorial primary; Hong ultimately lost the race.

Median Strategies has since withdrawn all its published data, shut down its website, and declined to identify the individuals behind the project. The firm stated the experiment was not funded or directed by any political candidate, campaign, or organization, and denied any financial ties to election betting markets. The incident has prompted calls from the Bass campaign for a criminal investigation into bad-faith attempts to influence elections.

Entities

Francesca Hong · Karen Bass · Los Angeles · Median Strategies · Nithya Raman · Spencer Pratt

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Sources

Mysterious Polling Firm Fooled A Major Democrat Campaign — Then Admitted Everything Was Fake [wltreport.com]
Mayor Karen Bass's Lead Questioned After Poll Fabrication Scandal [digitalchew.com]
Fake Polling Firm Admits It Manipulated Political Data in 'Social Experiment' Benefiting Democrats [americanfaith.com]
Fake Poll Showing Bass Leading Raman by Double Digits Was Bogus, Firm Says [timesng.com]
Polling Firm Says Data In Closely Watched DSA Race Was ‘Social Experiment,’ Then Shuts Down | CDN [conservativedailynews.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys - The Sen Times [thesentimes.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys [looniepolitics.com]
Raman campaign plans to hire controversial strategy group that advised Graham Platner [dnyuz.com]
Bass, Raman to talk homelessness, police at LA mayor race debate [ca.news.yahoo.com]
Bass, Raman to Face Off in First Debate of Mayoral Runoff [mynewsla.com]
Mysterious Polling Firm Fooled A Major Democrat Campaign — Then Admitted Everything Was Fake – 100PercentFedUp. com – by Donald [100percentfedup.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of un. . . [www.semissourian.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys [krmg.com]
Polling and Research Firm Confesses to Rigging Polls Favoring Socialist Candidate Before Unexpected Defeat. [thenationalpulse.com]
洛杉磯市長選戰現假民調 發布者：是社會實驗 [www.epochtimes.com]
Falsa, la encuesta que colocaba a Bass con amplia ventaja por la alcaldía de Los Ángeles - La Opinión [laopinion.com]
Mysterious polling firm behind fake election surveys closes after admitting ‘social experiment’ [www.foxnews.com]
Bass Is Matching Campaign Donations With Taxpayer Funds [pjmedia.com]
Karen Bass Brags About Forcing Taxpayers to 6x Her Campaign Cash While the City Can’t Fill Potholes [twitchy.com]
Fake Poll Scandal Has All the Earmarks of a Pump-and-Dump Scheme - The American Prospect [prospect.org]
How fake polling could upend the midterm elections [www.washingtonexaminer.com]
Karen Bass ripped after viral video lays out taxpayer-funded match of campaign donations [www.foxnews.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys [wtop.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys [www.newsday.com]
WATCH: Phony pollster says data in closely watched DSA race was just a ‘social experiment,’ then shuts down * WorldNetDaily * by Joe Kovacs [www.wnd.com]
Widely shared poll results for LA mayoral race were fake, 'polling firm' says [abc7.com]
Mayor Bass Incidentally Promotes Fake Poll Showing Double-Digit Lead Over Nithya Raman [www.thewrap.com]
The L. A. mayoral poll was a fake. But was it illegal? [www.latimes.com]
Fake polling from mysterious company highlights danger of unvetted election surveys [www.independent.co.uk]