Political Polling Is Still In Good Shape

Are political polls getting worse over time? Nate Silver says no:

He cites an exhaustive new study by Will Jennings and Christopher Wlezien, who say this: “Our analysis draws on more than 30,000 national polls from 351 general elections in 45 countries between 1942 and 2017….We find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the recent performance of polls has not been outside the ordinary.” Here’s an excerpt from the money chart:

This doesn’t show the 2016 presidential election, which was off by about two percentage points—well within the normal range. Too bad about that Electoral College nonsense, eh?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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