… Trying to think systematically about the role of the press in political coverage and reflecting on the 10 prior presidential campaigns that I have covered, I want to set down some of the lessons that have jumped out at me.
I offer this list with hesitation and humility because I have made many of these mistakes myself — and invariably will stumble again in chronicling 2020. …
Everything I have learned about early polling can be expressed in three cautionary sentences: No one knows how many Democrats will participate in the Iowa caucuses. New Hampshire primary voters in years have often dramatically changed their minds at the last moment. And national polls gyrate wildly after Iowa and New Hampshire. CONT.
Walter Shapiro, Roll Call