… For decades, political scientists and economists have concocted statistical models to try to predict presidential elections even before the actual campaigns were under way. Their aim wasn’t merely to pull off the parlor trick of predicting a winner; more important (to them, at least) was figuring out what makes voters tick. Their underlying theory was that most voters’ behavior stems from a combination of fundamental factors and not from anything the candidates say or do. …
Now add a new factor: Trump. CONT.
Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times