Is Polling Broken, and if So, Are We Fixing It?

2020 was not a great year for pollsters, at least the ones who release their work to the public: in the final three weeks of the election, national surveys of the presidential race were wrong by an average of more than six points, the same as 2016. Is something fundamentally wrong here? And what do we do if there’s problem with one of the major tools we use to understand public opinion and guide election campaigns in our democracy?

Recently, the think tank Third Way convened a panel of top experts to address this question. That panel was presented mostly to political insiders…but one of those top experts joins us to bring the discussion to our listeners. Angie Kuefler is Senior Vice President of Research at the Global Strategy Group. She has done extensive political research for local, state, and federal candidates, including many members of congress, governors, and issue advocacy campaigns.