---
title: Polling Scandal - October 22, 2026
description: Wedgewood Polling reportedly faked voter data. Here’s why polls can’t decide North Carolina races and why your vote still counts.
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date: 2026-10-22T12:17:47Z
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![Voting](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/daily_update/2026/october/oct22/3.png)

Stop trusting the polls. Just get out and vote.

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Thursday, October 22, 2026.

The [Daily Wire](https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-midterm-polling-scandal-that-could-change-everything), the New York Times, and others are reporting that a company called Wedgewood Polling used fake data about voter intentions in this upcoming election. Quoting from [FiftyPlusOne](https://blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone-just-caught-a-pollster) – a polling aggregation firm:

Wedgewood operated as if it were a legitimate polling firm, including collecting money from donors to conduct crowd-funded polls, and sharing raw survey data.

Wedgewood operated in multiple states including Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas and Maine. According to the [Daily Wire](https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-midterm-polling-scandal-that-could-change-everything):

The New York Times did cite Wedgewood 15 times between June and October. It was cited by Decision Desk 17 times in that same period.

In an attempt to cover themselves, [Wedgewood admitted](https://blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone-just-caught-a-pollster):

that it was all fake; they’re claiming it was an experiment. They now claim they made up all these fraudulent polls to expose how bad the polling industry is.

We do not believe them. Social experiments are one thing. This rises to a whole new level of fraud and manipulating our elections. Additionally, all of their “data” – with big quotes around it – naturally skewed to favor the liberal left – which should surprise no one.

Polls can affect elections. People naturally want to be associated with winners – and not associated with lost causes. If polling data shows that a certain candidate is down by insurmountable numbers, odds are people who would naturally vote for that person would stay home. Why take time out for a losing cause?

The polls – and the press - say the Republicans will take a drubbing this year. Yet most of the polls – the good ones at least – show most races well within the margin of error. In other words, this election season is a dead heat for most candidates.

The reality is that the only poll that counts is election day. Numbers here in North Carolina show that Republicans actually can win this thing – if they just show up to vote – and vote Republican.

[Currently](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Press/2026%20General/NC%20Absentee%20Stats%20for%202026%20General/2026-10-21%20Daily%20Absentee%20Stats%20Report%20-%202026%20General.pdf), Democrats lead Republicans in voter turnout nearly 2 to 1.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.