[News] Exit poll used by Venezuela opposition sourced from US gov-linked firm

Tue Jul 30 11:31:30 EDT 2024

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/exit-poll-used-by-venezuela-opposition-sourced-from-us-gov-l>
Exit poll used by Venezuela opposition sourced from US gov-linked firm
Al Mayadeen English
July 30, 2024
------------------------------

A US government-funded company was the one that published the exit poll of
Venezuela's elections indicating the victory of the opposition, indicating
foul play in the works to destabilize Caracas.
[image: 279fc508-08de-4b82-a6db-2aaa875d221e.jpg]

   - Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado talks to the media,
   with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, following
   the election results in Caracas on July 29, 2024. (*AFP*)

The Venezuelan presidential elections
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/venezuela-s-maduro-says-coup-d-%C3%A9tat-attempted-after-his-re-e>
took place this week with Nicolas Maduro
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/venezuela-s-president-nicolas-maduro-wins-third-term>
emerging victorious with 51% of the votes, securing a third term in office.

However, the United States
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-prepared-to-work-with-venezuelan-election-winner--if-tran>
and the Venezuelan opposition
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/opposition-unable-to-create-political-crisis-in-venezuela--m>
accused the president of electoral "fraud" following the release of an exit
poll conducted by Edison Research
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/over-58-000-in-michigan-vote--uncommitted--in-primaries-agai>,
a US-linked company that essentially caters to the reinforcement of the
American agenda and US propaganda outlets founded by the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/the-cia--a-covert-army-of-mayhem-across-the-world>,
according to a *Geopolitical Economy *piece written by Ben Norton*.*

The Edison Research poll was conducted on the day of the elections,
indicating that right-wing candidate Edmundo González Urrutia
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/venezuelan-opposition-declares-maduro-s-rival-gonzalez-presi>
would win the elections with 65% of the votes, defeating Maduro's
anticipated 31% of the votes. According to Norton, several polling
companies in the Latin American country are run by opposition figures and
littered with political biases. Following the election results on Monday,
the Edison Research poll has evidently proven to be false.

Despite the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) reporting Maduro
won 51.2% of the votes, followed by González securing 44.2% and the
remaining 4.6% received by a combination of eight other opposition
candidates, as well as the US National Lawyers Guild describing that their
delegation in Venezuela "observed a transparent, fair voting process with
scrupulous attention to legitimacy, access to the polls, and pluralism," US
media outlets and the Venezuelan far-right opposition utilized the Edison
Research poll to justify their accusations of a rigged election.

The poll was cited by Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, a
US-backed, far-right politician, and US media outlets such as *The
Washington Post*, *The Wall Street Journal*, and *Reuters*. In addition,
the US State Department, which played a key role in backing numerous coup
attempts in Venezuela, rejected Maduro's victory while Secretary of
State Antony
Blinken
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/as-us-warmongers--it-claims-does-not-want-escalation-on-leba>
questioned the election results.

The National Lawyers Guild criticized the opposition's "attacks on the
electoral system as well as the role of the US in undermining the
democratic process."
Edison Research

Understanding the political economy of a company provides a clear
perspective of its political views, agendas, and ideologies that are shaped
by its funding and ownership. Essentially, the Edison Research firm's top
clientele consists of CIA-affiliated US media outlets infamous for their
spread of propaganda, and mis- and disinformation against the country's
adversaries.

Edison Research is renowned for its international research, conducting
polls in countries such as Ukraine, Iraq, and Georgia. However, the firm's
research is managed by its Executive Vice President Rob Farbman "with a
specialization in the Middle East and Africa for clients including *BBC*,
the* Voice of America*, the *Middle East Broadcasting Networks*, and *Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty*," according to its website.

These state media outlets play a pivotal role in what *The New York
Times *described
back in 1977 as a "Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the CIA" due to
their spread of disinformation and propaganda against China during the Cold
War period. In the modern era, these media outlets continue to manufacture
propaganda against people, countries, organizations, or governments that
oppose their beliefs, especially Russia
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/russia-may-end-moratorium-on-intermediate-range-nuclear-forc>,
China, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela.

*Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) *were also identified by
the *Times
*as "CIA broadcasting ventures." *RFE/RL *describes itself as "funded
principally by the US Congress through the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA)," according to its website.
US government's support for Venezuelan opposition and coup d'etat

The United States has a history of attempting coups in Venezuela, such as
in 2002 when the Venezuelan military was backed by US forces to briefly
overthrow President Hugo Chavez
<https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/features/venezuela-elections--without-ch%C3%A1vez--but-with-the-threat-of>
before he re-assumed office after large protests. In the same way, the
Trump Administration referred to Juan Guaidó, a right-wing politician, as
the country's "interim president" even though he never participated in a
presidential election.

Washington and the Venezuelan opposition have a sort of alliance, with the
United States investing millions of dollars through the National Endowment
for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
to provide the opposition group's political parties, media outlets, and
supposed NGOs with financial aid and training.

In contrast, the United States has also seized Venezuela's foreign assets
and imposed sanctions, resulting in the government’s revenue reportedly
shrinking "by 99% with the country currently living on 1% of its
pre-sanctions income," top UN expert on sanctions, Special Rapporteur Alena
Douhan said. Additionally, the economic deterioration of Venezuela caused
by US sanctions resulted in the deaths of 40,000 people from 2017 to 2018,
according to a research paper published by economists Mark Weisbrot and
Jeffrey Sachs.
'Long-range interests of the United States'

The US news outlets are ultimately influential tools that hold significant
hegemonic power, "reaching 420 million people weekly in 63 languages and
over 100 countries," according to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM),
the company that oversees the media outlets' operations.

USAGM is owned by the United States Information Agency (USIA) and funded by
Congress, where Joe Biden recently requested a $950 million budget for the
2025 fiscal year. USAGM essentially serves the "long-range interests of the
United States," a notion maintained by Congress following its
implementation of the Internationa Broadcasting Act in 1994, highlighting
US media outlets must "be consistent with the broad foreign policy
objectives of the United States”, and note they are "advancing the goals of
United States foreign policy."
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