Lock Him Up? A New Poll Has Some Bad News for Trump

BagOfHammers@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 310 points –
Lock Him Up? A New Poll Has Some Bad News for Trump
politico.com
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No, I'm just not certain it's an accurate sample. Polls were way off in 2020 and 2016.

They actually weren't though. Trump lost the popular vote by a huge margin in both cases, which is what was predicted.

They weren't. Aggregated polling in 2016 gave Trump a 1/3 chance of winning. That's not low. It's actually quite likely. Him becoming president was invariably within the margin of error in many polls.

Eg. 2016

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/

2020:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/senate/

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/house/

2022:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/

The media reporting on polls (and anything scientific for that matter) is universally abysmal, that's why you mistakenly think otherwise.

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Define "accurate". Define "way off". What do you think a poll tells you?

What you're upset about is how you're interpreting polls - and I guarantee you you're doing it wrong.

90% chance is not a guarantee success. 30% chance is not a guarantee fail. They're probabilities.

This poll, taken alone, tells you what these people think. It's not a prediction and by itself doesn't really say much. Taken in aggregate with other polls you can start to form an idea. But NO POLL will ever tell you the future.

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