The Guardian

A lesson from the US election: we'll never understand voters just by looking at polls | John Harris

If a country has so lost the ability to comprehend itself that its best minds have to depend on surveys, it clearly has a problemBiden wins: follow the latest election news and reaction
‘There are complex, sometimes contradictory factors that actually decide how people vote.’ Trump supporters praying at a protest in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday. Photograph: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock

As well as the celebrations triggered by Joe Biden’s eventual , one quieter sound can be heard in the US: that of opinion polling once again being read the last rites. Pollsters and analysts may have got the winning candidate right. But, perhaps because many Republican supporters preferred to keep their political preference quiet, the reduction of politics to maths did not predict the knife-edge results that materialised in so many US swing states, in Congress, and the fact that untold millions were in no mood to reject Donald Trump and what he stands

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Guardian

The Guardian6 min readRobotics
Robot Dogs Have Unnerved And Angered The Public. So Why Is This Artist Teaching Them To Paint?
The artist is completely focused, a black oil crayon in her hand as she repeatedly draws a small circle on a vibrant teal canvas. She is unbothered by the three people closely observing her every movement, and doesn’t seem to register my entrance int
The Guardian4 min read
‘Still A Very Alive Medium’: Celebrating The Radical History Of Zines
A medium that basks in the unruliness and unpredictability of the creative process, zines are gloriously chaotic and difficult to pin down. Requiring little more to produce than a copy machine, a stapler and a vision, zines played a hugely democratiz
The Guardian4 min read
Lawn And Order: The Evergreen Appeal Of Grass-cutting In Video Games
Jessica used to come for tea on Tuesdays, and all she wanted to do was cut grass. Every week, we’d click The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s miniature disc into my GameCube and she’d ready her sword. Because she was a couple of years younger than m

Related Books & Audiobooks