Quote:
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX
Without looking, most polls have approximately 1,000 respondents and the margin of error is in the 3-4% range.
With few exceptions, polls are very accurate in their predictions.
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Within the margin of error, polls are usually pretty accurate. Again it's the pundits that make polls look bad.
Pundits will run with and make a lock a poll that's 50-47 with a 4% margin of error. That's exactly what happened in 2016. The NYT put Hillary at 98% to win when she was within the margin of error on most polls.
Trump certainly bucked the odds in several polls and won. But it wasn't totally outside the poll predictions, just the pundits.
Where most pollsters/etc. end up losing out is the very subject of this thread. They, like Speed, dismiss almost out of hand the enthusiasm factor in lieu of their polling data.
So 99% at a Trump rally have their mind made up, but when they come out of the rally fired up, does that enthusiasm spill over to non-committed voters. I think it does and that explains much of what happened in 2016. It's certainly ramping up right now for similar enthusiasm and in my opinion large spillover to those undecided.
2018, the enthusiasm factor carried into the Dems and they took the house, failed miserably in the Senate, got a few Governors, etc. Not a stellar performance from a number of positions standpoint, but did win on enthusiasm.
2020 is a different story with Trump running and the enthusiasm he will carry.