Wyoming and LA Political Scandals Involving Fake Polling Data
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And Median Strategies didn’t just release fake polling data for the Wisconsin gubernatorial race — the Los Angeles mayoral race was also the victim of fabricated polling data. Median Strategies released a poll that indicated Mayor Karen Bass was “leading Raman by nearly 12 percentage points ahead of the Nov. 3 mayoral runoff.” The poll was purportedly conducted between July 30 and Aug. 5 amongst 560 voters in Los Angeles with a 4.1 percent margin of error. The company later revealed to The Los Angeles Times that the poll was also fake.
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Washington ExaminerMedian Strategies, the company behind the fake polls, was among those showing Hong with a substantial lead. The company was exposed when the Los Angeles Times looked into its numbers purporting to show Mayor Karen Bass with an 11-point lead in her reelection campaign. Bass touted the fake poll.
USA TodayLA mayor race polls: Fake poll hits race The debate on Aug. 19 comes just days after the Los Angeles Times reported that a poll showing Bass leading by nearly 12 percentage points over Raman was actually fake. More polls will likely be released as the November election gets closer.
PBS NewsHourWhat to know about the fake election poll numbers shared and retracted by a mysterious company Locked in a competitive reelection race, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared on social media last week that a new poll was evidence that her campaign was "gaining momentum."
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Francesca Hong, the failed communist candidate in the Wyoming gubernatorial primary race, was supposed to shellac David Crowley. After all, she had a 23-point lead over her opponent, according to data from Median Strategies.
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Washington ExaminerIn Wisconsin a week later, socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong held a large lead in the polls for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Since July, every poll included in the RealClearPolitics average had her up by at least 11 points. But Hong, who endured a disastrous news cycle concerning her woke social media posts in the week before Election Day, ended up losing to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
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Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing scrutiny after an online ad revealed that that campaign contributions from supporters of her reelection bid would be matched by taxpayer dollars.
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The Daily WireLos Angeles Mayor Karen Bass can finance her re-election campaign with public funds through a program that uses taxpayer dollars to match eligible campaign contributions.
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"Let me explain," she continued. "Thanks to LA's super match program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles residents is matched 6-to-1 by the city. But after the primary, we had to start over from scratch, so we need you to rush your matching donation right now to help fuel this campaign."
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The Daily Wire“Thanks to LA’s Super Match Program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles Residents is matched six to one by the city. If you donate $5, the city turns it into $35…chip in $25 right now, and the city turns it into $175. Make your matching donation today, thank you so much,” she said.
7 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 USA Today Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman will debate homelessness, police and city hall issues on Wednesday, Aug. 19. It comes less than two months out from when ballots go out for the midterms.
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02 The Hill Turley says fake pollster ‘raises an interesting legal question’ Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School professor, on Wednesday said the fake pollster that claimed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) and former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong (D) led in their respective races by wide margins “raises an interesting legal question.” “The disclosure that Median Strategies released fake polling on major political…
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03 New York Post Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman is tapping the progressive ad shop that helped propel Zohran Mamdani to victory in New York — despite hundreds of fellow Democratic Socialists urging candidates to cut ties with the firm over its work for a scandal-plagued Senate hopeful.
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04 Washington Examiner Adding to the polling industry’s growing list of problems is a company that has admitted to releasing fake polls as a “social experiment” to see what kind of impact the misinformation could have.
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05 Fox News "Your donation to our campaign right now is more critical than ever before," said Bass, speaking into a lapel microphone with upbeat music playing in the background of the ad, which was posted to her campaign's X account.
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06 The Federalist As The Federalist’s Matt Kittle chronicled, in the final PBS/NPR/Marist election poll of 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris led by 4 percentage points, “outside the poll’s 3.5-point margin of error.” The Washington Post reported days before Election Day that Harris had a “big early-vote” lead over Trump. On Nov. 2, Fortune ran a headline stating: “October Surprise: Trump just blew a huge lead, and the Madison Square Garden Rally started the drop, says top data scientist.” Another pollster assessed Harris as leading Trump by 3 points in Iowa — before Trump won the state by double digits. The pollster later admitted it was a “big miss.”
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07 The Daily Wire The “Super Match Program,” overhauled by the L.A. city council in 2019, deems any candidate running for mayor, city attorney, city controller, or city council eligible to participate in the program. Bass advertised the initiative in a video released earlier this week, proudly stating that her campaign is funded “by YOU!”
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