SoCal Strategies Goes Dark After Report Questions Polling Data and Leadership

10/27/2026 / By Douglas Harrington

The website and social media accounts of polling firm SoCal Strategies went offline on Oct. 22 – hours after the independent outlet FiftyPlusOne published an investigation into the firm’s polling data and its ownership, according to a report by Mediaite on the same day ^[1].

The report stated that FiftyPlusOne had attempted to contact a person identified as Wilson Rochford, the firm’s lead pollster, at his student email address and received no reply. FiftyPlusOne said it had communicated with someone at SoCal Strategies on Oct. 20, but had since been unable to reach anyone at the company ^[1].

The report said the firm’s online presence disappeared shortly after the request for comment on Rochford’s role. SoCal Strategies had not issued a public statement, and no response from the firm or Rochford were reported in either the FiftyPlusOne report or the Mediaite article ^[1]. The report did not provide independent confirmation of who is currently operating the company.

FiftyPlusOne Report Questions SoCal Surveys and Ownership

The FiftyPlusOne report examined multiple surveys issued by SoCal Strategies and raised questions about who exactly is running the company, The outlet said a tipster who had contacted it regarding Wedgewood Polling also mentioned SoCal Strategies, linking the two firms in the course of the inquiry ^[1].

According to the report, Jack Sims – who was identified in FiftyPlusOne‘s Wedgewood investigation – previously worked at SoCal Strategies and the polling firm was registered to him in Florida last year. The report stated that Sims dissolved the business entity he registered in 2025 in May ^[1].

In that filing, according to the report, Sims left a comment reading: “ITS [sic] TIME FOR THIS TO END AND FOR US TO MOVE ON. I JUST WANT TO PUT THIS ALL BEHIND.” FiftyPlusOne cited the comment as part of its review of the firm’s ownership records ^[1]. The report did not state what prompted the dissolution.

Questions Arise Over Identity of Lead Pollster

FiftyPlusOne researchers stated they communicated with a person identifying himself Rochford, who had worked as an intern with Probolsky Research, according to the report. The report alleged that “Rochford was not involved at all, and that other people, possibly Sims, were fraudulently using his name and profile in connection with Wedgewood.”

According to the report, FiftyPlusOne shared a short audio clip from its conversation with the person identifying himself as Rochford with a person who knows Sims personally. That person said the voice on the call was not Sims, the report stated ^[1].

Separately, a source who spoke with someone claiming to be Sims said the voice matched the person they spoke with. But because the source had only a phone conversation, the report said the identification could not be verified definitively.

Two SoCal Polls Removed; Wedgewood Precedent Cited

Two polls from SoCal Strategies are now being removed from FiftyPlusOne, according to the report ^[1]. The outlet said the legitimacy of the data behind those polls had been disputed.

The report stated: “The legitimacy of the data behind those polls has been disputed; Rochford explicitly denied any problems with the data in our call, but the poll releases are materially different than other releases on their page.” According to the report, the releases did not include a link to a full set of crosstabs, which the firm typically publishes, and the format of the releases differed from the firm’s usual style.

FiftyPlusOne said it had also recently conducted an investigation into Wedgewood Polling. According to the report, with that investigation set to expose the firm, Wedgewood admitted its polling had been fake and described it as part of a social experiment and a criticism of modern polling and reporting ^[1]. FiftyPlusOne cited the Wedgewood case as precedent for its review of SoCal Strategies.

Company Remains Unreachable; No Response Reported

As of Thursday, SoCal Strategies’ online presence remained dark, and FiftyPlusOne said it had been unable to reach anyone at the company, according to the report. The outlet said its last confirmed communication with the firm was on Tuesday.

The report did not state whether the firm had retained counsel or planned to address the findings ^[1]. The FiftyPlusOne report did not provide independent confirmation of who is operating SoCal Strategies, and the company had not issued a statement as of the report.

Reference

Polling Company Goes Dark as Investigative Report Suggests They’re Yet Another Fake. https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/polling-company-goes-dark-as-investigative-report-suggests-theyre-yet-another-fake/