Just days before the 2020 election, ABC reported a poll claiming Donald Trump was down 17 points in his race for the White House against Joe Biden. This proved to be embarrassingly wrong for a national news network and threw into question the validity of public polling and the motivations behind such bogus claims.
According to a coalition of independent pollsters, this was a deliberate act of misinformation, the kind that can sway elections, suppress voter turnout, and erode public trust in democracy itself. Now, a group of veteran pollsters is fighting back.
The newly formed National Association of Independent Polling (NAIP) brings together some of the country’s most accurate polling professionals to hold the industry accountable and expose politically motivated, agenda-driven data manipulation.
“Too many big-name polls aren’t just getting it wrong, they’re getting it wrong in the same direction, year after year,” said Mark Mitchell, head pollster at Rasmussen Reports and a founding member of the new organization. “That’s not a margin of error. That’s not random. That’s a pattern.”
NAIP was founded by Mitchell, Richard Barris of Big Data Poll, Robert Cahaly of Trafalgar Group, and Matt Towery of InsiderAdvantage — a team with a proven track record of accuracy, especially in understanding and measuring support for President Trump’s MAGA movement.
“This is about more than polling,” said Barris. “This is about public trust. If we can’t get accurate readings on public opinion, how can voters make informed decisions? How can lawmakers rely on data to shape policy? And more importantly, how can we tell the difference between real sentiment and fabricated narratives designed to influence the electorate?”
The founders say the problem has worsened during the Trump era, with mainstream media pollsters often underreporting Republican support by wide margins. The public is left confused, campaigns are misled, and the polls themselves become weapons of political influence, rather than tools of measurement.
“We’ve all seen these pop-up polling firms that vanish after a cycle or come back under a new name,” said Barris. “There’s never been anyone watching them. Well, now there is.”
NAIP’s purpose is twofold: to serve as a watchdog over an industry plagued by bad actors and to re-establish a gold standard of accuracy based on transparency, methodology, and long-term performance, not partisan spin.
“Most of the public thinks opinion changes month to month,” Barris said. “But in truth, the data shifts because the pollsters are talking to different types of people each time. We’ve proven that larger samples and smarter methodology yield consistent, accurate results, not the wild swings you see in the mainstream.”
The group does not hide its criticism of the media and establishment firms, accusing them of gaslighting the public and suppressing legitimate perspectives. “This is affecting everybody’s numbers,” said Mitchell. “And it’s only going to get worse.”
For now, NAIP aims to establish a recognizable seal of integrity, a way for the public, media, and political leaders to distinguish credible pollsters from the rest. Membership isn’t open to just anyone. As Barris put it, “You have to have a published, public track record of accuracy. You have to get it right. Not always, but more often than not, and certainly better than chance.”
“This is just the beginning,” Barris concluded. “The American people deserve to know the truth, not be spoon-fed an agenda dressed up as data.”