Polls Are Tightening, But Are They Accurate?

52:21

Mina Kim

Nov 4, 2016 at

Save Article

Failed to save article

Please try again

Voting booths sit at a New York City Board of Elections voting machine facility warehouse, November 3, 2016 in the Bronx borough in New York City. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

With less than a week until Election Day, the latest New York Times/CBS news poll shows 45 percent of likely voters supporting Hillary Clinton and 42 percent supporting Donald Trump. But other polls reflect a much closer race. What explains such vast difference in results? In this hour, we look at the science of polling and how polls ultimately do (or don’t) reflect results at the ballot box.

More Information:

KQED’s Complete 2016 Election Coverage
Maps of SurveyMonkey Data (Mentioned On Air)

Guests:

Henry Brady, dean, Goldman School of Public Policy and professor of political science and public policy, UC Berkeley

Jon Cohen, senior vice president, survey research and chief research officer, SurveyMonkey

Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent on the Washington desk, NPR News

Sponsored

lower waypoint

next waypoint

Erik Aadahl on the Power of Sound in Film KQED Youth Takeover: How Can San Jose Schools Create Safer Campuses?Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Major Homelessness Case Percival Everett’s Novel “James” Recenters the Story of Huck Finn Have We Entered Into a New Cold War Era?KQED Youth Takeover: How Social Media is Changing Political Advertising Death Doula Alua Arthur on How and Why to Prepare for the End How to Create Your Own ‘Garden Wonderland’First Trump Criminal Trial Underway in New York The Beauty in Finding ‘Other People’s Words’ in Your Own