Polling Firm Median Strategies Admits Fabricated Surveys Were Part of Experiment on Unverified Political Information

A firm calling itself Median Strategies has acknowledged that polls it released this summer, including one showing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holding a nearly 12-point lead over City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the upcoming mayoral runoff, were fabricated and not based on any actual survey of voters.

In a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times and posted on its website before operations appeared to wind down, the company said Median Strategies “was created as a short-term social experiment examining how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification.” It declared that all previously published polling releases “have been withdrawn and should not be cited or treated as genuine polling data.” The firm added that it was not seeking publicity or attribution for the individuals involved and declined further interviews.

The Los Angeles poll, released in mid-August, claimed to reflect responses from 560 city voters surveyed between July 30 and August 5, with a reported 4.1 percent margin of error. It portrayed Bass as leading Raman by almost 12 percentage points and asserted that roughly 85 percent of respondents who had backed primary candidate Spencer Pratt were now supporting the incumbent mayor. Bass’s campaign cited the results in a social media post that was later deleted. A campaign spokesperson subsequently stated that any bad-faith attempts to influence elections should be investigated and prosecuted, while Raman’s team criticized the mayor’s office for promoting the numbers without adequate verification.

Median Strategies had presented itself as an independent polling and research firm. The fabricated results circulated in political and media circles before the company, under questioning, disclosed that no genuine fieldwork had occurred. Similar fabricated numbers from the same entity had been released in connection with the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary, where one survey claimed a large lead for state Rep. Francesca Hong.

The company’s own description frames the project as a deliberate test of how easily unverified or false polling claims can enter public discussion and be amplified by campaigns and observers. By introducing material that appeared to be legitimate survey data into the political information stream, the operation created the conditions for those numbers to shape perceptions of candidate strength ahead of the November elections. Officials with the Bass campaign have said the episode underscores the need for scrutiny of sources, while the firm’s withdrawal of its releases and cessation of further polling activity leave the fabricated figures formally disavowed.

The episode has drawn attention to the vulnerability of the political information environment to unverified claims presented in the format of traditional polling. No evidence has emerged that the project was funded or directed by any candidate, campaign, political party, or political action committee, according to the company’s statement. Investigations into the origins and methods of the entity have not been publicly detailed by authorities.