The big story on Election Day will be whether the Republican Party can win back control of the Senate. Going into the final hours of the campaign, some of those races are very close, but there are six states in particular that merit an especially close viewing on Tuesday night. […] Read more »
The Secret About Undecided Voters: They’re Predictable
… Since July, The Upshot has been working with CBS News to run the largest nationwide survey of midterm elections ever fielded. Data from the last wave of The New York Times/CBS News Battleground Tracker, collected by the survey research company YouGov, shines a bright light on undecided voters, typically […] Read more »
Voters, Especially Independents, Lack Interest in Election
Two of Gallup’s long-term indicators of voter turnout show that Americans are much less interested in the midterm election today than they were on the eve of the election in 2010. Moreover, the 41% of U.S. adults saying they have given “quite a lot” or “some” thought to this year’s […] Read more »
How to Watch the Election Returns Like a Pro
Every two years, people who are interested in politics sit glued to the media of their choice as the election returns roll in. Many races are called as soon as the polls close, but the ones that matter most—that spell the difference between majority and minority status for a political […] Read more »
The Economy, and Voters’ Perception of It, Are Two Very Different Things
We learned on Thursday that the United States economy expanded at a healthy rate this summer, growing 3.5 percent from July through September. This growth — as robust as it is — is unlikely, however, to influence how the president’s party fares this week at the polls. … To understand […] Read more »
Here’s How to Avoid Getting Fooled on Election Night
Election Day creates a vast information vacuum — millions of Americans (and hundreds of reporters) are trying to figure out the outcome of an event before it has been decided. With few useful indicators of what is actually happening at the polls, rumors and misinformation can run rampant. Here’s how […] Read more »