Most probably remember the absurd ABC/Washington Post poll a few days before the 2020 elections showing Joe Biden winning Wisconsin by 17 points. A few days later, Biden was declared to have won the state, though by just over 20,000 votes total, or 0.63 percent.
This figure, of course, discounts lingering questions about Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Technology and Civic Life’s work in retirement homes, among other irregularities. In other words, the ABC/Washington Post pollsters were either terrible at polling, which is quite possible. Or (and?) perhaps something else was at play: polls being used as more of a psyop intended to suppress Republican turnout.
Indeed, fake polls masquerading as reality are actually meant to project an illusion perceived as reality to influence and manipulate behavior.
Fast forward to 2022.