This is really going to require @NateSilver538 and @nathanfielder to team up before we get to the end of this.
I wrote last month about how the increasing number of public polling actually made it harder to determine what was happening in American politics bencjacobs.substack.com/p/th…
The polling industry needs major reform. Our statement below:
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Wedgewood Polls released this statement after FiftyPlusOne contacted them regarding evidence of fabricated poll data. They had shared fraudulent raw data the prior day and raised crowdfunding for polls presented as legitimate.
blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone…
x.com/gelliottmorris…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
Reupping my story from last month about how you can't really trust almost any public polls these days bencjacobs.substack.com/p/th…
Reupping my story from last month about how you can't really trust almost any public polls these days bencjacobs.substack.com/p/th…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
As one of the candidates featured in these polls - the infamous one in late June that showed me plummeting into single digits (which was at odds with our internals) - here's the impact of this "experiment"
- Donations dried up
- Volunteers were devastated and pleading for guidance on what to do
- Reporters hounded me with calls to drop out
Sure, a point was proven. Polling is broken. But tens of thousands of people poured their hearts, time, energy, hard-earned money into something they believed in - for a year-and-a-half, and it was treated like a game. Our volunteers gave their all. And then some. I felt like I had let so many of them down.
To be extremely clear, Michigan Democrats are locked in to beat Mike Rogers. We WILL send @AbdulElSayed to the US Senate.
But between crap like this, endless fundraising texts that drive supporters away with spammy fake deadlines and trash "match" claims, scam PACs run rampant for firms to grift without actually supporting candidates, undisclosed content creators pushing content out either misrepresenting themselves as residents of states they don't live in or hiding whether they were paid and by who so they could make a buck, and the tidal wave of dark money ads -- I hope Democrats are ready to blow up the system with campaign finance and transparency reforms.
Trust is already at an all-time low. We don't get out of this mess without rebuilding trust.
And media - who loves to ride the drama of a pollercoaster - needs to take a hard look at what's legitimate and what's not.
If this teaches us anything - DON'T GET COMPLACENT AND DON'T TRUST THE POLLS.
LOCK IN. SIGN UP FOR A CANVASSING SHIFT. LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS.
The polling industry needs major reform. Our statement below:
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Wedgewood Polls released this statement after FiftyPlusOne contacted them regarding evidence of fabricated poll data. They had shared fraudulent raw data the prior day and raised crowdfunding for polls presented as legitimate.
blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone…
x.com/gelliottmorris…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
exclusively can report that Abdul El-Sayed used to do the thing were were changed our names for Halloween on here.
Ben Jacobs retweeted
Vivek Ramaswamy just told reporters, "It is an ad from our campaign, and the thing that I want to say is that I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans, and unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won't debate me."
He later said Acton's mother was not compensated.
(h/t WSYX ABC 6 on the ground)
Amy Acton campaign slams Ramaswamy over controversial ad featuring estranged mother
from @dianagpaulsen and myself @ABC: abcnews.com/Politics/amy-act…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
Wow CLF made a $650K buy in #MO02 for GOP Rep Ann Wagner
This is a Trump +8 seat but has gotten little attention before now. Dem nominee Fred Wellman outraised Wagner last quarter
SCOOP: Vivek Ramaswamy is doubling down on the explosive ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother attacking her daughter, putting $4 million behind it despite fierce bipartisan backlash
More >>
axios.com/2026/10/21/ramaswa…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
SCOOP: Vivek Ramaswamy is doubling down on the explosive ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother attacking her daughter, putting $4 million behind it despite fierce bipartisan backlash
More >>
axios.com/2026/10/21/ramaswa…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
“If the terms were right, I’d have no problem” debating Talarico, Paxton says.
What are his terms?
“I don’t know what all the terms are but I do know I don’t want a CNN reporter.”
Fox News said it would host if Paxton agreed, after Talarico challenged him to a debate there.
I had jerky at Buc-ee’s with @KenPaxtonTX and talked about his emotions going into the midterms.
📍somewhere near Houston
Ben Jacobs retweeted
It should be called “No on Recall, Yes on Bustamante Park”
New Fresno park honoring former California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante
abc30.com/post/new-fresno-pa…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
This is not how you “demonstrate vulnerabilities” fwiw, by putting misinfo into the political bloodstream for months
The polling industry needs major reform. Our statement below:
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Wedgewood Polls released this statement after FiftyPlusOne contacted them regarding evidence of fabricated poll data. They had shared fraudulent raw data the prior day and raised crowdfunding for polls presented as legitimate.
blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone…
x.com/gelliottmorris…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
A reminder that cheap travel is a major factor in super expensive ticket prices. In 1982, for the most part the only people who were going to a World Series game in Milwaukee lived in Milwaukee and would stand in line for tickets.
Ben Jacobs retweeted
A firm created by Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini's family offered to pay @AlinaHabba $10m/yr while she was an administration advisor.
Weeks after she started at the company, Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini, who had been charged in a bribery case nytimes.com/2026/10/20/us/po…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
TRIAGE NEWS: @CLFSuperPAC is axing its reservation to oust Dem Rep Jared MOSKOWITZ
CLF will save $6M in #FL25 (Trump+9). GOP nominee is Scott Singer
ALSO No Going Back PAC is triaging in #NC11 (Trump+10), suggesting they think Jamie Ager (D) will win
More in @PunchbowlNews PM
Ben Jacobs retweeted
"Byrnes told CNN he obtained the video from a voter who saw it as part of a polling call and recorded it."
.@PatrickSvitek: Ohio governor's race roiled by new viral video featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother
cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/…
Ben Jacobs retweeted
WSJ scoop: Musk was the one who ordered the Starshield slowdown that blindsided Ukraine’s defenses. wsj.com/world/ukraine-starli…































