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.
“For nearly two centuries, The Associated Press has delivered the results of elections in the United States, playing an indispensable and fundamental role in the American democracy,” David Scott, the vice president for AP Elections, said in a statement. “We also know this essential work is being done against the backdrop of an electorate confronted with misinformation, which is why it’s essential that news organizations work together to serve voters with one source of accurate and trusted results.”
The move comes after the AP created a standalone business unit in January dedicated to growing its election services, including monetizing its data. Scott was appointed as its vice president.
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.
