Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Landslide?

I'm a great believer in averaging polls, the kind of thing Nate Silver does. I have no interest in the single polls so many TV hosts dwell on in trembling excitement. But this is a strange year. I look at the averaged polls and wonder why the women of America haven't decided to vote against Trump in bigger numbers.

Some of you may have seen Lawrence O'Donnell last night discussing a special poll. An outfit managed to poll voters in Florida who have already cast their ballots. What that poll showed was that 28% of Republicans had voted for Clinton. If accurate that would indicate a Clinton landslide, no doubt driven by women. But no one seems to buy that outcome. Or are the polls missing something?

Instead the experts talk about enthusiasm among the voters, finding Trumplettes to be the most enthusiastic. The claim must be that if you vote enthusiastically, the vote counts double, but isn't this election sure to have the most unenthusiastic votes cast in modern history?

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