Thursday, February 13, 2020

i mean, maybe it's worth reflecting a little on how polling firms get those numbers.

they don't just take a flat survey, although i often prefer to see them give me that data. they ask you questions about your age, income, etc and then they fit the data to the census results.

so, the polls you saw would have assumed roughly 20% youth turnout and roughly 60% adult turnout, with roughly 20% turnout in between. if you actually get 15% youth turnout and 65% adult turnout, and 20% in between, then that discrepancy will affect the accuracy of your projections.

but, this is what margins of error are for, and you don't expect something like that to mess with your results more than a few points. so, the low youth turnout will explain why sanders is 2-3% lower than the averages, and why buttigieg is 2-3% higher than the averages. but, it won't explain why klobuchar beat the polls by 10% - you would need lower turnout overall to pull that out, and it's not there.

instead, what you see on it's face is that very high turnout inflated her numbers. but, that just suggests that she cheated.