Key Facts

• Wedgewood Polling admitted to fabricating its polls as part of a "social experiment," but Nate Silver called this explanation false.
• Fake polls by Wedgewood appeared in several states and showed a slight favor toward Democratic candidates.
• Several media outlets, including Newsweek, used Wedgewood’s fake poll data and have since retracted or corrected related articles.
• Nate Silver said fake polls are not new but are now a bigger problem because they can manipulate prediction markets where people bet on election outcomes.
• Silver noted that President Donald Trump has often labeled accurate polls showing poor Republican performance as "fake polls."
• Silver defended efforts by professional poll vetting organizations like The New York Times to catch fake polls but said no system is perfect.
• The fake poll scandal comes just 10 days before the midterm elections when both Republicans and Democrats closely watch polling results.
• The controversy contributes to growing distrust in polling accuracy ahead of important U.S. elections.