FiftyPlusOne

FiftyPlusOne is a website that collects public political polls in the United States, publishes polling averages and election forecasts, and runs a subscription newsletter of data-driven political analysis. It describes its purpose as the “collection and statistical analysis of public polling data transparently, to the public, for the public’s benefit,” and calls its approach nonpartisan.

History

FiftyPlusOne was founded in September 2025 by G. Elliott Morris, Mary Radcliffe and Katie Marriner, according to the company. Morris had been a data journalist at The Economist and then editorial director of data analytics at ABC News, where he oversaw FiveThirtyEight until ABC shut it down in March 2025; the site’s founders are among that operation’s former staff. An early version of the site went live in fall 2025.

In February 2026 the site announced an expanded set of features: polling averages across races and issues, sortable data tables, access to its raw polling data, planned forecasts for U.S. House and Senate races, and a newsletter published on Substack. Full data tables and premium articles are sold by subscription at $8 a month or $80 a year.

On 8 October 2026 FiftyPlusOne announced that it would supply polling averages, forecasts and interactive tools for MS NOW’s midterm election coverage, on air and online, and named MS NOW its “exclusive national news partner.” The arrangement includes a biweekly column by Morris.

Wedgewood Polls

Wedgewood Polls, a firm whose 2026 midterm surveys had been cited by national outlets and included in poll trackers, shared what it said was raw survey data with FiftyPlusOne on 15 October 2026. FiftyPlusOne had earlier asked the firm who ran it and checked its published methodology statement. In the days that followed, FiftyPlusOne’s staff posted that they had found inconsistencies in the firm’s methods and data, and Morris posted on X that a story was coming. Status reported that the site spent about $900 of its own money on the investigation; Morris told it the company was “not the most moneyed operation.”

FiftyPlusOne contacted Wedgewood for comment on 20 October, with a midnight deadline. The same day, Wedgewood posted a statement admitting that it had fabricated its data. FiftyPlusOne published its own account that day under the names of Radcliffe, Morris and Cooper Burton.