ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN join Fox News in using the wire service’s election tabulation data ahead of 2026 and 2028.
Corbin Bolies at The Wrap:
Nearly all of the top broadcast and cable networks will now use the Associated Press’ election data to help call results during the 2026 and 2028 elections, the news wire announced on Wednesday. The move means networks ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN will join Fox News and hundreds of newspapers across the country in using the AP’s data, with each of their respective decision desks breaking down the results independently to call races. Fox News began using the AP’s data in 2017, and its decision desk was under intense scrutiny during the 2020 election for its early — but accurate — call that Joe Biden won Arizona, a swing state, that year. [...]
The networks have now moved away from the research firm Edison Research, which provided election data to the networks as part of the National Election Pool, a consortium formed in 2003 of news organizations. Fox News and the AP both left the consortium in 2017. Edison Research on Wednesday was acquired by SSRS, a polling and research firm. NewsNation, the first cable network to call the election for Trump last year, relied on Decision Desk HQ during the 2024 election, its first as a 24/7 cable news network. It is unclear what MSNBC, which will soon be re-named MS NOW, will use moving forward as it severs from NBC following parent company Versant’s split from Comcast. A network spokesperson did not have an immediate comment.
Big news for election data prognostication: ABC News, CBS News, CBS News, and CNN exit the Edison Research's National Election Pool, will join AP VoteCast for the 2026 and 2028 elections that the agency and Fox "News" also use. NewsNation uses Decision Desk HQ, and as for the separated from NBCU MSNBC (soon-to-be MS NOW), they could join the AP VoteCast or join up with DDHQ.
















