Median Strategies, a polling firm, has announced its closure after admitting that its surveys regarding the Los Angeles mayor's race and the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin were fabricated. The company stated on its website that it was created as a short-term social experiment to study how polling information could spread without independent verification. The surveys indicated that Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong were leading their opponents by significant margins, but both candidates ultimately faced tighter races than the polls suggested. Median Strategies clarified that it was not affiliated with any candidate or political organization and will not publish further polls.
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Signals flagged in the original
- loaded language: 'Mysterious'
- loaded language: 'Democrat-dominated'
- loaded language: 'far-left candidate'
- loaded language: 'more moderate'
- loaded language: 'widely inflated'
- loaded language: 'fresh criticism'
- framing: The headline's use of "Mysterious" adds suggestive framing beyond the reported admission.
- framing: The article repeatedly foregrounds ideological labels and contrasts, including DSA affiliations, "far-left" El-Sayed, and "more moderate" Stevens.
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Polling Firm Median Strategies Closes After Admitting to Fake Surveys
Median Strategies has closed after acknowledging that its polls on the Los Angeles mayoral race and Wisconsin gubernatorial primary were fake. The firm described its work as a social experiment to analyze the spread of polling information without verification, and it emphasized that it had no affiliations with any political candidates or organizations.
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Median Strategies
People
Karen Bass
Francesca Hong
David Crowley
Spencer Pratt
Abdul El-Sayed
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Language Analysis
Loaded-language score
45/100
wirepublicmainstream
flavoredpartisanadvocacy
Inflammatory language
16/100
Loaded Language Removed
- ✕ loaded language: 'Mysterious'
- ✕ loaded language: 'Democrat-dominated'
- ✕ loaded language: 'far-left candidate'
- ✕ loaded language: 'more moderate'
- ✕ loaded language: 'widely inflated'
- ✕ loaded language: 'fresh criticism'
- ✕ framing: The headline's use of "Mysterious" adds suggestive framing beyond the reported admission.
- ✕ framing: The article repeatedly foregrounds ideological labels and contrasts, including DSA affiliations, "far-left" El-Sayed, and "more moderate" Stevens.
- ✕ framing: Calling Los Angeles a "Democrat-dominated city" is an unnecessary political characterization in the election-result description.
- ✕ editorializing: polls in Michigan widely inflated far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed's lead over more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens
Original vs. Neutral
Original Headline
Mysterious polling firm behind fake election surveys closes after admitting ‘social experiment’
Neutral Headline
Polling Firm Median Strategies Closes After Admitting to Fake Surveys