Polls have faced strident criticism after President Trump outperformed pre-election surveys nationally and in key states. Now that nearly all votes have been counted, a clearer picture of poll accuracy has emerged, showing that they struggled much more in certain states, while they were much more accurate in others. …
Some of the states with the largest polling errors this year also had the largest errors in 2016 — particularly in the Upper Midwest. And as in 2016, when polls missed, they tended to underestimate Trump’s support rather than the Democrat’s. Even so, in only a handful of states did polls give an inaccurate overall picture of the competitiveness of the contest after all the votes were counted. State-level polling has not been very precise in the past, and this year’s state polls were no exception. CONTINUED
Emily Guskin & Daniela Santamariña, Washington Post