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A fake poll made real news. What does that say about political polling?

Poynter · Ren LaForme · last updated

A bogus pollster injected fake numbers into the political information ecosystem. Here’s what journalists — and everyone else — should learn from it.

A poll of Los Angeles voters released last week found Mayor Karen Bass leading Councilmember Nithya Raman by a wide and growing margin. Days earlier, a poll of Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary showed democratic socialist Francesca Hong walloping Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley by more than 20 percentage points.

There were problems with both.

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