FiftyPlusOne is rated Least biased with High factual reporting by Media Bias Fact Check.

Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED (-0.8)
Factual Reporting: HIGH (0.5)
Country: USA
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

FiftyPlusOne is a U.S. political polling, election forecasting, and data-journalism website founded in 2025 by former FiveThirtyEight journalists G. Elliott Morris, Mary Radcliffe, and Katie Marriner. The site collects public political polls, produces polling averages and election forecasts, and publishes data-driven political analysis.

G. Elliott Morris serves as Head of Analytics and manages the editorial operation and statistical models. He previously served as Editorial Director of Data Analytics at ABC News, where he oversaw FiveThirtyEight’s political data journalism, and previously worked as a Senior Data Journalist for The Economist. Mary Radcliffe, Head of Research, previously led research at FiveThirtyEight, while Katie Marriner, Head of Engineering, previously worked as a Senior Visual Journalist at FiveThirtyEight and has also worked for MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal.

FiftyPlusOne states that its mission is to improve understanding of public opinion and elections through rigorous, transparent, and nonpartisan analysis. Its primary website hosts polling averages, forecasts, raw polling data, and methodology documentation, while its editorial analysis is also distributed through a connected Substack publication.

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Funded by / Ownership

FiftyPlusOne is independently owned in equal shares by founders G. Elliott Morris, Mary Radcliffe, and Katie Marriner. Morris has publicly stated that the three are equal co-owners of the project.

Revenue comes primarily from subscriptions, commercial licensing of polling data, API access, and related data services. Morris has stated that data licensing is a particularly important source of revenue and allows the organization to make much of its polling aggregation and election forecasting publicly available. FiftyPlusOne also licenses polling and election data to media organizations, including MS NOW.

Analysis / Bias

FiftyPlusOne demonstrates a low level of partisan bias. Its editorial standards explicitly require politically neutral research decisions, story selection that reflects questions across public discourse, and data visualizations that clearly communicate uncertainty without misleading readers. Its polling methodology includes both partisan and nonpartisan pollsters and labels partisan sponsorship rather than excluding polls solely because of their political origin.

For example, We tracked every candidate in the 2026 primaries. Here’s who voters are nominating examines ideological factions within both the Democratic and Republican parties using an original dataset of nearly 2,000 primary candidates. Rather than advocating for a faction, the analysis focuses on endorsements, candidate ideology, election results, and measurable changes within both parties.

Likewise, Affordability concerns are even more important to voters than in 2024 reports that inflation and economic concerns are damaging President Donald Trump‘s standing while also noting that similar concerns helped Trump defeat Democrats in 2024. The analysis relies primarily on polling trends rather than partisan characterization.

FiftyPlusOne’s 2026 election forecasting methodology is particularly transparent, documenting the polling, historical election results, fundraising, incumbency, expert ratings, uncertainty, and statistical assumptions used in its models. Forecasts are expressed probabilistically rather than as certain predictions, and the organization publishes significant portions of its underlying polling data for public examination.

Factual standards are very strong. FiftyPlusOne relies heavily on original polling datasets, Federal Election Commission records, historical election results, public polling disclosures, and reproducible statistical analysis. Its staff have substantial professional experience in polling aggregation and data journalism, and we found no consistent pattern of partisan wording or selective manipulation of polling data. While individual staff members may express political opinions outside FiftyPlusOne, the institutional product maintains a substantially nonpartisan approach.

Failed Fact Checks

• None found from major fact-checking organizations.

Overall, we rate FiftyPlusOne Least Biased based on its nonpartisan polling methodology, balanced political analysis, transparent modeling, and reliance on measurable data rather than ideological framing. We rate it High for factual reporting due to exceptional sourcing, transparent methodology, experienced staff, and a clean fact-check record. (D. Van Zandt 10/21/2026)

Source: https://fiftyplusone.news/

Last Updated on October 21, 2026 by Media Bias Fact Check

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