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Articles on Political polling

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A voter exits a polling location on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020 in Fort Worth, Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Election polls in 2020 produced ‘error of unusual magnitude,’ expert panel finds, without pinpointing cause

A task force of polling experts found surveys notably understated support for Donald Trump, both nationally and at the state level. Here’s what may have gone wrong, according to a polling historian.
Will Trump voters – like these at a rally, waving goodbye to him as he leaves – defy the polls and send him back to the White House? Olivier Touron/AFP/Getty Images

How might the campaign’s endgame be disrupted? Here are five scenarios, drawn from the history of election polling

Polling shows Joe Biden with a large lead over Donald Trump nationally in the presidential race. But there are many ways that presidential race polling has gone wrong in the past, and could do so now.
Better opinions polls are more expensive because pollsters need to spend more effort getting a representative and honest sample of voters. Shutterstock

Here’s how to make opinion polls more representative and honest

You could compare election opinion polls to penalty shoot-outs at a World Cup final: there’s huge pressure to get it right and we remember the big misses most of all.
Contrary to expectations, Victoria failed to deliver a government majority to Labor. Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

State of the states: Queensland and Tasmania win it for the Coalition

The Tasmanian seats of Bass and Braddon were always going to be key elements of a Coalition victory – and so it proved to be.
What will polling look like in the future? Person taking survey via shutterstock.com

What will pollsters do after 2016?

Pollsters must be as accurate as possible. How will they address the challenges revealed in the 2016 election, and other changes in the coming years?
Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election defied almost all predictions. EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo

How did we get the result of the US election so wrong?

Swinburne political scientist Bryan Cranton looks at why so many experts got the US Election so wrong

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