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Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024

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Summary
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86% Informative

Many Americans remain skeptical that public opinion polling can paint an accurate portrait of the public’s political preferences.

Pollsters are experimenting with more data sources and interview approaches than ever before.

Polls are making changes in response to the problems exposed in 2016 and 2020 elections.

John Avlon : Preelection polls face a crucial challenge that polls do not: determining who of the people surveyed will actually cast a ballot.

Avlon says a third of eligible Americans do not vote in presidential elections.

He says the accuracy of election polling is judged by how closely the polls matched the outcome of the election.

In 2020 , polling error was the highest in 40 years for the national popular vote and highest in at least 20 years for state-level estimates.

David Gergen : Polls often overestimate who will turn out to vote in presidential election years .

He says polls historically have not shown any pattern of favoring one side or the other.

Gergen says the real margin of error in polls is often about double the one reported.

VR Score

92

Informative language

94

Neutral language

32

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

54

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

medium-lived

External references

27

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