Two more polling firms face scrutiny for failing to meet ‘ethical standards’
FiftyPlusOne, a polling aggregate, has suspended its cooperation with two polling firms, the Public Sentiment Institute (TPSI) and Patriot Polling, due to concerns over their ethical practices in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary race. The group accused these firms of not fully disclosing campaign funding sources and alleged that TPSI fabricated data favoring candidate James Fishback, which TPSI denies. The controversy follows recent scrutiny of polling organizations, including the fake firm Median Strategies, highlighting increasing skepticism towards poll accuracy in the upcoming midterm elections. FiftyPlusOne stated it would mark all data from these firms as partisan and banned future data from TPSI. Both firms responded, with TPSI acknowledging a methodological error involving respondent data but denying purposeful falsification. The incident occurs as candidates like Byron Donalds win Florida’s GOP primary, with polls showing him as the favourite to face Democrat David Jolly in the general election. The overall situation raises concerns about polling integrity ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Popular polling aggregate FiftyPlusOne has suspended its work with two polling firms over ethical concerns related to their surveys in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary race.
The major political polling aggregate said the two pollsters, The Public Sentiment Institute and Patriot Polling, did not adequately disclose that they had received funding from GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback’s campaign before conducting their polls in the governor’s race. FiftyPlusOne also alleged that the TPSI polling firm fabricated data from a poll in favor of Fishback, a characterization the firm denies.
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The scrutiny of the two polling firms comes just days after a separate fake polling firm, Median Strategies, made headlines for falsified polling it released in the Los Angeles mayoral race and a misleading report it published in the Wisconsin governor’s race. The instances of alleged unethical polling in the Florida governor’s primary are the latest to increase skepticism toward polls in the 2026 midterm season.
“We have discovered evidence that suggests both firms conducted surveys for political campaigns without disclosing their clients publicly,” FiftyPlusOne said in a statement released Thursday. “All surveys from each pollster that exist in our database at publication will be marked as partisan, as we cannot be confident they were conducted on a nonpartisan basis as the pollsters claim.”
FiftyPlusOne said they are “permanently banning” the use of data from TPSI in the future and “suspending” the use of future data from Patriot Polling until the firm responds to the aggregate’s inquiries.
The aggregate wrote in their statement that Fishback’s campaign paid TPSI $1,575 for “polling/survey” ahead of two June polls they released on the gubernatorial primary and paid the CEO of Patriot Polling $1,500 for “polling” ahead of one February poll they released on the primary.
FiftyPlusOne also said that TPSI “fabricated vote-choice data” in favor of Fishback as part of its survey in the primary, though the firm denies intentionally doing so. The aggregate pointed to a review the firm published, in which TPSI said they “identified respondents who selected [Lt. Gov. Jay] Collins but whose broader profile aligned with a competing coalition, and leaned those respondents toward James Fishback,” calling it, in retrospect, a “consequential error.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, TPSI said they “have taken responsibility for that methodological failure, retired the adjustment, and implemented new controls to prevent it from recurring” and added that “the underlying survey data was not fabricated or altered.”
“We have been transparent about where we failed and have published the evidence necessary for our work to be scrutinized,” TPSI wrote in the statement. “We accept criticism of our methodological error, but the record does not support describing that error as deliberate falsification.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to both Patriot Polling and Fishback’s campaign for comment.
Thursday’s news brings more scrutiny to the polling industry after reports about Median Strategies, which said it was conducting a “social experiment” in its fake polling, and the results in several states that proved polling estimates wrong.
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President Donald Trump-backed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) defeated Fishback and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R-FL) in Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, setting him up to take on Democratic former Rep. David Jolly in the general election.
Donalds was seen as the favorite throughout most GOP primary polls and has a single-digit edge over Jolly in the limited general election polling so far in the race. Cook Political Report lists the race as solidly Republican.
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