A day or two ago, a political polling company named Wedgewood Polls admitted that its election data was entirely fake. The company posted a statement online explaining that it made up its numbers to see if anyone would notice. This trick worked completely. Major news organizations and polling websites such as The New York Times, VoteHub, and FiftyPlusOne put the fake data directly into their tracking systems without first checking it.
This was not a harmless prank. It had serious results for real people. In Michigan, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow dropped out of a close U.S. Senate race on July 5 because a fake June poll showed her support dropping to single digits. After the poll came out, her campaign donations stopped, and her volunteers panicked. Her campaign ended because of numbers that did not exist. For more on how this data directly dismantled her bid, you can read the comprehensive report from Newsweek.
