COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A fraudulent polling operation that manufactured data during the 2026 midterms derailed a major U.S. Senate campaign in Michigan, exposing critical vulnerabilities in modern political media and data aggregation.
This week an entity operating as Wedgewood Polls admitted it had completely fabricated survey results across the country. The firm characterized the operation as an intentional “social experiment” designed to expose the low barriers to entry and a severe lack of vetting by media outlets and data aggregators.
Before the hoax was revealed, national media platforms and prominent polling aggregators absorbed the unverified numbers, injecting false data directly into mainstream political coverage and shaping voter perceptions.
Hugo Gurdon with the Washington Examiner says the primary damage of this misinformation landscape fell heavily on Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow, whose Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate collapsed shortly after the fake data went public.
Released on June 29, the fraudulent Wedgewood survey placed McMorrow at a mere 9% support, falsely showing her trailing far behind her rivals, Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens, and framing her as the weakest candidate against the Republican nominee.
McMorrow detailed how the fake poll dealt a fatal blow to her run; almost immediately, critical campaign donations dried up, supportive super PAC funding was pulled, and her volunteer base was left devastated.
Faced with a manufactured narrative of sudden collapse and relentless calls from journalists to drop out, McMorrow suspended her campaign on July 5, less than a week after the fraudulent numbers corrupted the race.
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