A self-described polling group posted findings showing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass leading by nearly 12 points in the race to keep her seat, but before its website went dark Monday, Median Strategies said those results were fake and a “short-term social experiment.”
The three-page poll that had a one-sentence methodology section managed to get the attention of Bass, who touted it in a post on X that has since been deleted, the Los Angeles Times first reported.
The poll attributed Bass’ lead over LA City Council member Nithya Raman to people who had voted for reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the June mayoral primary, stating that “85.23% now say they would back Bass.” President Donald Trump had endorsed Pratt, who failed to make it to the general election.
But Median Strategies, which had 21 followers on X on Monday, issued a statement on its website acknowledging withdrawing its published press releases and saying they should not be cited.
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“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,” according to the statement.
Pratt shared a California Post article on the phony poll on X on Friday.
“LOL you think my voters are going to vote for the crying carpetbagger in charge of homelessness who ‘found’ 40K votes on Skid Row 7 days after the election?” Pratt wrote.
His post about the poll had garnered 5,000 reposts and 38,000 likes by Monday.
“This poll was reported on by a news outlet,” said Alex Stack, a Bass campaign spokesperson, in a statement Monday. “Any bad faith attempts to influence elections should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The only post on Median Strategies’ X account is from Wednesday: “Median Strategies is committed to continuously refining our methods and presenting a clear image of elections and movement. Though it hasn’t occurred this time, we will truly learn and improve from this.”
It is unclear what poll the post was referring to.
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