Kamala Harris won Pennsylvania? US media ‘accidentally’ airs poll results

US Election 2024: As excitement builds for the November 5 US Presidential election 2024, ABC affiliate WNEP-TV mistakenly aired poll results indicating Vice President Kamala Harris winning Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state.

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Videos circulating on X displayed Harris leading with 52% of the vote against Republican challenger Donald Trump’s 47%.

Watch the video here:

This picture appeared during the station's Sunday coverage of the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix, leading to a wave of online backlash against the network.

‘Shouldn't have appeared on screen…’

WNEP-TV has since clarified that the numbers were “randomly generated” for equipment testing and did not reflect any actual vote count.

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“Those numbers should not have appeared on the screen, and it was an error by WNEP that they did,” the broadcast station reportedly told Daily Mail about the ‘glitch.’ The broadcaster clarified the slip-up that caused a stir on social media, explaining that the numbers aired were purely “randomly generated test results” without connection to actual vote counts.

“The numbers seen on the screen were randomly generated test results sent out to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly in advance of election night,” they added.

Not ‘first time’

Flashing poll results is not a first-time mistake by the company. On October 29, 2020, ABC station in Detroit accidentally aired election results during an episode of ‘The Bachelorette,’ mistakenly showing Trump winning Michigan.

What does the poll predict about Pennsylvania?

A new CNN poll released on Wednesday indicates that Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican rival Donald Trump are tied in Pennsylvania, just days before the November 5 election.

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Harris leads Trump by 48% to 43% among likely voters in Michigan and by 51% to 45% in Wisconsin—two key battleground states referred to as the “blue wall,” which played a crucial role in President Joe Biden's victory in 2020, Reuters reported.

In Pennsylvania, the third “blue wall” state, the poll shows Harris and Trump in a dead heat at 48%. With its 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is a significant in the race for the White House.

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Interviews were conducted Oct. 23-28 online and by telephone with 726 likely voters in Michigan, 819 in Pennsylvania and 736 in Wisconsin, CNN said. The margin of error was plus or minus five percentage points, it said.

(With inputs from agencies)