Horror as another suspect polling firm vanishes amid scrutiny: 'Major scandal'

The election forecasting community was rattled this week by reporting that Wedgewood Polls, a recent upstart firm, had been fabricating most or all of its data. Now another polling firm is in experts' crosshairs — but they seem to have deleted their entire internet presence before anything could be proven.

FiftyPlusOne, a polling analysis site, announced in a blog post on Thursday it is ending its use of SoCal Strategies’ surveys after the pollster’s web presence disappeared a few days after FiftyPlusOne asked to check its data.

FiftyPlusOne interviewed a person calling himself Wilson Rochford, the firm’s head pollster, on October 20. He promised to send raw data by Friday to substantiate disputed surveys, and said Jack Sims, who had been tied to Wedgewood, “didn’t actually have a big role” in polling. FiftyPlusOne says it hasn’t heard back since, and that the Washington Post reported the firm’s website and X account were gone.

The site says it can’t confirm basic facts about the business or its people. A Florida company Sims set up was dissolved in May, with no replacement found. VoteHub’s Zachary Donnini said the head pollster at Wedgewood told him he attended Boston University and had worked with SoCal Strategies, details that fit Rochford. FiftyPlusOne is removing two SoCal Strategies polls in particular, which it says are missing crosstab data and don't look like any of the rest of the firm's output.

The new report triggered shockwaves among social media observers.

"This polling situation is a hair's breadth away from becoming a major, major scandal," wrote Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus.

"Seems pretty clear at this point that the polling industry needs to be regulated," wrote political columnist Alex Zeldin.

"Seems like @50plus1news is becoming the Isaac Chotiner of polling investigations," wrote Blueprint Polls lead pollster Evan Roth Smith.