“Trust the polls” is the soothing mantra of the data nerd. While polls are snapshots of public opinion at a specific time, and they are fallible, in most circumstances, they represent the best picture of what America is thinking and are the most powerful predictor of eventual election results.
But this Tuesday night, the polls, and much of the rest of the data we often use to analyze elections, likely won’t be as useful as they usually are. Events are simply moving too fast. CONT.
David Byler, Washington Post