Veteran pollster Frank Luntz, contemplating his industry’s major misses in a second consecutive presidential election, declared his profession “done.”
The results of a highly contentious race between President Trump and Democrat nominee Joe Biden have Luntz feeling a little dismayed, especially when polls seemed to be indicating an easy win for the challenger for months.
“The political polling profession is done,” Luntz told Axios earlier today. “It is devastating for my industry.”
In a separate interview with Fox News, Luntz said it is “unforgivable” that public opinion surveys failed to correct the mistakes of 2016 and again underestimated support for President Trump.
.@FrankLuntz: “The political polling profession is done. It is devastating for my industry.” #2020 #2020Elections https://t.co/BNcogJkoOl
— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) November 4, 2020
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Frank Luntz: Polls Are Done
Luntz attempted to explain away the huge misses by several prominent polls in the 2020 election.
Mainly, that supporters of the President love to mess with those conducting the surveys.
“Trump voters are hostile to pollsters because they think the pollsters want to make them look bad. They wear it as a badge of honor that they refuse to cooperate and refuse to be interviewed,” he asserted.
“As a result, measuring the breadth of support for Donald Trump is tricky,” Luntz claimed. “But to get it wrong twice in a row by huge margins is unforgivable.”
‘If Donald Trump wins the election we are done. No one will trust us again.’
Could the polls be wrong again?
US pollster and GMB election night expert @FrankLuntz explains why the election is so unpredictable right now.
Watch GMB today
https://t.co/fzcHkA6S4k pic.twitter.com/3BEkn7YyFO
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 2, 2020
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Pollsters Shamed Relentlessly After Trump Turnout
Public flogging of feckless pollsters was the theme throughout election night as number after number, prediction after prediction proved their incompetence.
RealClearPolitics President Tom Bevan took a shot at New York Times/Siena polling efforts with a backhanded blast of FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver.
Bevan tweeted “Great job” while listing six battleground states in which the polls were off on support for Biden by wide margins.
NYT/Siena, rated an A+ pollster by 538, overestimated Biden’s support by:
6+ in FL
4+ in NC
Probably 6ish in MI when the count is in
10 ish in WI
10+ in IA
9+ in OHGreat job.
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) November 4, 2020
Radio host Buck Sexton joked that the title of “pollster” has as much clout in today’s political world as “journalist” or “fact-checker.”
“Pollster” may soon join “journalist” and “fact checker” as professions that nobody who is well informed trusts very much
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 1, 2020
Univision suffered a particularly embarrassing shaming for missing the mark on Cuban support for President Trump in Florida.
It’s early, but it’s worth noting that Univision Network teamed up with Joe Biden’s Latino pollster to claim Trump was *LOSING* Cubans by 15.
He’s winning Cubans by ~40.
Univision’s poll was off by 55 pts.https://t.co/fN2aRcvmMY
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) November 4, 2020
Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, blasted Quinnipiac as a “garbage” firm after they were off in Ohio by 12 points.
Quinnipiac, which is a garbage pollster, said Biden would win Ohio by 4 points. Trump won it by more than 8 points. https://t.co/Oe6yfiIQSU pic.twitter.com/XJSYfpg22s
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 4, 2020
Even Yoko Ono’s kid seemed to grasp the failure of the pollsters, smacking them with a ‘learn to code’ blast.
I guess I was right that it was insane to trust the polls after what happened in 2016. I should go find the tweet. I wonder what all those people pollster pundits will learn to code?
— Sean Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) November 4, 2020
Luntz Called His Shot And Failed Miserably
Luntz admitting that the pollsters ‘got it wrong twice in a row by huge margins’ is an important thing to note.
After all, he hinted earlier in the week that this couldn’t possibly happen and if it did, it would mean the end of his profession.
“Well, I hate to acknowledge it, because that’s my industry — at least partially — but the public will have no faith. No confidence. Right now, the biggest issue is the trust deficit,” he explained prior to ballots being cast.
“And pollsters did not do a good job in 2016,” Luntz admitted. “So if Donald Trump surprises people, if Joe Biden had a 5- or 6-point lead, my profession is done.”
GOP pollster Frank Luntz says, that if Trump wins, “it would be the complete and utter destruction of the polling industry – at least in politics.” pic.twitter.com/cvprdpq7Hp
— The Daily Angle (@thedailyangle) November 3, 2020
While President Trump hasn’t won the election and may not, in the end, the polling professionals clearly got things wrong once again.
Trump clearly outperformed their estimates in nearly every crucial state.
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