A major polling aggregator announced Thursday that it has permanently barred data from political survey firm, The Public Sentiment Institute (TPSI), following allegations that the group altered survey responses and concealed its financial ties to Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback.
The allegations come just a week after a fake polling firm, Median Strategies, admitted it disseminated fraudulent polling figures to test how unverified political data spreads across social media.
“We are permanently removing from our website all polls released by The Public Sentiment Institute, after the company admitted it fabricated vote-choice data for select respondents,” FiftyPlusOne wrote. “This fabrication appears to have boosted the poll numbers of the political candidate that paid TPSI for polling services.”
A final poll from TPSI released just before the election showed Fishback in second place, just behind Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). Fishback came in third place in the primary, securing just over 10% of the vote and falling far behind Donalds at 48% and Lt. Governor Jay Collins at 25%.
“Late last week, FiftyPlusOne received a tip that TPSI had allegedly published campaign internals for the James Fishback campaign without disclosing that those polls were funded by a candidate. This is in explicit violation of our ethical standards for pollsters,” FiftyPlusOne added.
Fishback’s campaign paid TPSI $1,575 on June 9 under the memo “Polling/survey,” according to FiftyPlusOne. The group then released polls on June 10, June 30, and August 13 with no note on how it was funded by the Fishback campaign. In its August 13 poll, TPSI included the statement, “This survey was designed, funded, and conducted by The Public Sentiment Institute. No candidate, campaign, party committee or outside organization sponsored, commissioned or paid for this research.”
The June 10 poll showed Fishback in second place at 27%, and the June 30 poll showed Fishback rapidly gaining ground and tying Donalds for first place at 32%. In its final poll before the election, TPSI showed Fishback at 29%, just five percentage points behind the first-place Donalds.
After the primary election, TPSI released an accuracy review taking responsibility for omitting its funding source, but it strongly denied manipulating or fabricating raw data. The pollster claimed that its usual methodology accurately matched the final primary results within a small margin of error. But analysts altered the last forecast by using an experimental modeling framework called the “Coalition Expectation Overlay.” They assumed their panel was undercounting younger voters and suspected an issue with voters backing Collins.
Austin Park, the co-founder and head of research at VoteHub, pointed out, “The American Association for Public Opinion Research just released a statement on fabricated polling following the Median Strategies issue. Disappointing to see TPSI effectively fabricate their data as well. TPSI has been excluded in VoteHub averages for several months already.”
The American Association for Public Opinion Research just released a statement on fabricated polling following the Median Strategies issue. Disappointing to see TPSI effectively fabricate their data as well.
TPSI has been excluded in VoteHub averages for several months already. https://t.co/HGTbZDbx66
— Austin Park (@austinjpark) August 19, 2026
FiftyPlusOne also placed data from Patriot Polling on temporary suspension because of concerns over undisclosed campaign sponsorships in the same primary.
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