Abstract
The 2020 elections in the United States brought another round of embarrassment to leading polling organizations whose the final preelection surveys underestimated popular support for President Donald Trump and many down-ticket Republicans. While not necessarily a debacle, the 2020 outcome marked the sixth polling surprise of some variety in the past seven presidential elections. Despite its unenviable recent record, election polling is hardly doomed. This essay addresses why, while offering an overview of major polling failures in U.S. presidential elections since 1996.
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