Member-only story
Undercounts & Polling
How sometimes pollsters miss the mark
WHEN POLLS FALTER
We have seen in 2016 and again in 2020 polls have undercounted the support for Trump, in the end result showing he out performed those numbers. The problem arises in the analytics used in assembling the polling data. For example missing a particular segment of voters in the sampling that untimately turn out. Pollsters watch each election to determine areas where this happens and attempt to modify their analytics used in order to account for these anomalies occuring.
AFTER TWO ELECTION CYCLES HAVE THEY STRAIGHTENED THIS OUT?
The question as to if this issues is behind us remains behind to be answered. While they may well have figured it out, there could be other undercount issues that become apparent.
WHAT IF?
In this historically unique presidential election, there are many anomalies including one which could show up as an undercount for Harris. This past week both arch conservative Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris held an unique event in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birth place of the modern Republican Party. Where the two women delivered a sharp denunciation of GOP nominee Donald Trump as a threat to democracy.