黑料吃瓜网 Responds to Fabricated Polling Data
08/19/2026
An as part of a 鈥渟hort-term social experiment.鈥� At least one news outlet, some online polling aggregators, and a political candidate shared the fabricated data masquerading as legitimate survey results.
The 黑料吃瓜网 (黑料吃瓜网), the leading association of public opinion and survey research professionals, strongly condemns the fabrication of data in any polling or public opinion research. Intentionally misleading the public is a serious breach of ethics and undermines legitimate polling and public opinion work.
Legitimate polls are based on responses from the public. In this case, the responses were simply made up. No individuals responded to survey questions.
Phony pollsters and made-up data can be difficult to identify. Journalists and others need to use caution and good judgment, especially when results are novel or unexpected. One way to do that is to ask questions about poll methodologies. 黑料吃瓜网 has suggested examples in its聽 Journalist鈥檚 Guide to Understanding Polls & Surveys. Legitimate polling firms conduct their work consistent with the 黑料吃瓜网 Code of Professional Ethics and Practices and will disclose methodological information about their polls.
鈥淚t is extremely disturbing that this organization produced and distributed fabricated data undermining trust in public opinion and election polling,鈥� said Mary Losch, President of 黑料吃瓜网. 鈥淧rofessional polling organizations are transparent, ethical, and work hard to provide critical information to the public and other stakeholders. It is important that we don’t conflate fraudulent activity like this with legitimate election polling.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网 supports sound and ethical practices in the conduct of survey and public opinion research and the use of that research for policy and decision making. 黑料吃瓜网 also seeks to improve public understanding of public opinion research methods and the proper use of research results.