With many reputable polls showing Democrats poised for big gains in the midterm elections, the Republican chairman of the FCC is advising local broadcasters to be wary of “fake polls,” without specifying which ones he believes are fake.
Brendan Carr, a close ally of President Donald Trump, warned FCC-licensed stations Wednesday, the same day two new, highly respected national polls showed Trump recording a new record approval rating.
His warning also came a day after a self-styled polling company admitted to being a “fictitious entity” that had fabricated data and misled the media.
It’s a real – and infuriating – problem, but it shouldn’t detract from the quality of polling that helps inform the electorate.
So what polls was Carr warning about? His X post did not say so, and he did not respond to CNN’s request for comment Wednesday afternoon, leaving the issue nebulous. And maybe that was part of the problem.
A group of former FCC officials called Carr’s message “part of an accelerated White House strategy to tilt the electoral balance in the president’s favor and deny election results that do not suit him.”
The former officials also noted that “the FCC has no authority to dictate editorial decisions.”
In effect, Congress has prohibited the FCC from attempting to prevent the dissemination of any point of view. But the agency is responsible for licensing local radio and television stations across the United States and enforcing basic standards, and Carr has repeatedly used this limited power to pressure broadcasters.
Press advocacy groups argued that Carr’s latest post went against the First Amendment.
“Every time he attacks the press, it’s because of reporting unfavorable to his boss, Donald Trump, whose gold face he is known for wearing as a lapel pin,” said Seth Stern, chief advocacy officer at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Currently, there are many unfavorable news stories circulating about the Republican Party’s electoral prospects, given widespread voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the state of the country.
Trump has by default called the polls “fake” and has at times threatened to translate his words into action. “I fought the pollsters,” Trump said at a rally Tuesday.
But if Trump intended to deter public opinion reporting, he was unsuccessful.
Last month, an Iowa judge dismissed the president’s lawsuit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling company, the Des Moines Register and Gannett. A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team vowed to appeal.
On Wednesday, Carr claimed that this election season has brought “a significant increase in completely fake polls and suppression polls designed to do nothing other than interfere with the regular operation of the electoral process and alter normal patterns of voter participation and enthusiasm.”
He said “many journalists and broadcasters have amplified or broadcast” the polls, but did not mention names or polls.
Carr then invoked the FCC’s power to penalize stations that violate the agency’s policies against “distortion of information” and “hoaxes,” although those policies are narrowly tailored and rarely enforced.
“Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in information distortions or broadcast hoaxes by broadcasting polls that would violate their regulatory obligations,” he wrote.
Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democratic commissioner, immediately spoke out against Carr’s message.
“Pollsters who intentionally mislead the public should be held accountable, but broadcasters who report publicly available polling data should never be punished when a poll is wrong,” Gomez wrote on
Stern made a similar point in a statement Wednesday. “News channels have a right under the First Amendment to report polling data, even if it turns out to be inaccurate, just as they have a right under the First Amendment to report on Carr and Trump’s countless lies and distortions, even when they turn out to be inaccurate,” he said.
By speaking out against “fake polls,” Carr is once again adhering to the rhetoric of the president who nominated him in 2017 and promoted him to president last year.
The timing is striking, as the midterm elections are less than two weeks away and polls give Democrats an advantage in many key races.
Many viewers and readers question the reliability of polls, and the reality is that some are more trustworthy than others.
Earlier this week, the poll tracking site FiftyPlusOne prepared an investigation into a group called “Wedgewood Polls,” which had published more than a dozen polls during the election period.
FiftyPlusOne included the group’s data in its polling averages, but found evidence of fabrications. After the pollster requested comment, Wedgewood released a statement saying it was an experiment “intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern political polling industry.”
FiftyPlusOne co-founder G. Elliott Morris charged that “they were trying to cover up their fraud under the excuse of ‘we were doing a social experiment’.”
The American Association for Public Opinion Research condemned the fabrication Wednesday.
“Professional polling organizations are transparent, ethical and work hard to provide crucial information to the public and other stakeholders. It is important that we do not confuse fraudulent activity like this with legitimate election polls,” said association president Mary Losch.
Even though it was just an experiment, it did real damage, playing into the hands of public figures who want to sow distrust in even the most authoritative polling sources.
“Fake news, fake polls, they’re all fake,” Trump said Tuesday. He then added in the next breath: “I have great polls. »
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