A polling firm has admitted that data showing Mayor Karen Bass leading Councilmember Nithya Raman by double digits was entirely fabricated. The company claims the hoax was a 'social experiment' to test how misinformation spreads in political ecosystems.
- Median Strategies admitted the LA mayoral poll was fake and not based on actual voter data.
- The 'experiment' aimed to see how unverified polling data spreads through the media.
- Mayor Karen Bass had previously shared the results on X before deleting the post.
- The fake poll claimed Bass led Raman by 12 percentage points.
In a startling revelation that has shaken the Los Angeles political landscape, Median Strategies, a fledgling polling firm, has admitted that its recent survey regarding the mayoral runoff between Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman was completely bogus. The poll, which had suggested a dominant lead for the incumbent Mayor Bass, was presented as a rigorous study of 560 voters with a 4.1% margin of error, but it was later revealed to be a calculated fiction.
The company stated in an email to the Los Angeles Times that the entire operation was a "short term social experiment." According to the firm, the goal was to examine the vulnerabilities of the political information ecosystem and observe how easily purported polling data could be distributed and accepted without independent verification. This admission comes after several news outlets and political campaigns had already integrated the fake data into their narratives.
Why This Matters
BozokMedia analysis shows that this incident exposes a critical flaw in modern political journalism: the reliance on digital-first polling firms that lack a transparent track record. When a news outlet like the California Post amplified the fake poll, it created a ripple effect that reached the highest levels of city government, proving that the "curiosity gap" and the desire for "momentum" often override the necessity for fact-checking.
The fake data specifically targeted a nuanced political angle, claiming that 85% of voters who previously supported Spencer Pratt were shifting toward Bass. This level of detail gave the poll a veneer of authenticity, leading Mayor Bass herself to cheer the results on social media with the caption, "Doing the work, showing up, and gaining momentum," before the post was quietly deleted.
The weaponization of fabricated data under the guise of a 'social experiment' threatens the very foundation of democratic transparency and voter trust.
This was not the first instance of Median Strategies providing inaccurate data. The firm had previously released a poll regarding the Wisconsin gubernatorial race, which wildly overestimated the lead of Democratic socialist Francesca Hong. While the company attempted to frame that error as a failure of data, the LA incident reveals a deliberate intent to deceive for experimental purposes.
| Feature | Claimed Poll Data | Actual Reality |
|---|---|---|
| Sample Size | 560 LA Voters | Zero (Fabricated) |
| Bass Lead | ~12 Percentage Points | Unknown/Fake |
| Purpose | Election Forecasting | Social Experiment |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who is Median Strategies?
A: A small entity that began posting on social media in August 2026, claiming to provide non-partisan, trustworthy polling, but later admitted to conducting social experiments with fake data.
Q: How did the Bass campaign respond?
A: A spokesperson stated that they relied on a news outlet's report and called for the investigation of bad-faith attempts to influence elections.
