One factor a lot of people miss in polling, is shadow. That is, people look at Candidate A or B and see they are leading, and forget two important points:whiterock said:note your example highlights another factor = Trump usually outperforms his polling. He's a turnout machine, including with some large low-propensity turnout demographics.Oldbear83 said:Well, let's look at history, then.Mothra said:It was a key victory in 2016 for Trump, and helped to propel him to the presidency.4th and Inches said:not a exactly a key swing state and that is the only one of the 7 and Biden has been slightly ahead in MIch for a whileMothra said:Biden leading in a key swing state. Not good.whiterock said:2024 Michigan GE:
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) May 1, 2024
Biden 47% (+2)
Trump 45%
.
Biden 43% (+3)
Trump 40%
Kennedy 7%
West 1%
Stein 1%
.@MorningConsult/@business, 708 RV, 4/8-15https://t.co/Yet5EDIS6I
It would be great if Trump took all 7 but its not necessary to get to 270
If he starts slipping in the other swings, that should raise an alarm to Trump camp
Agreed it's not necessary if every other swing state goes Trump's way, but it's still very important.
As of April 30 2016, Michigan state polls had Clinton leading Trump by an average of 48.0% to 37.5% (per RCP), But Trump won the state 47.50% to 47.27%
In April 2020, Michigan state polls had Biden leading Trump 46.5% to 41.0%, and Biden won the state 50.6% to 47.8%.
So Democrats ranged from underperforming by 0.7 points to overperforming by 4.1 points, while Trump ranged from overperforming by 6.8 points to overperforming by 9.8 points.
In any translation, a close race in Michigan now is advantage Trump.
1. The margin of error applies to each candidate, for a standard 3.5% MOE the leading candidate is not really secure unless he has more than twice the MOE for a lead.
2. The voters who do not express support for a candidate at a campaign mid-point will usually break towards one when they vote. The 2016 and 2020 elections are very different in that aspect - for 2016, 5.7% of the voters supported someone other than Trump or Clinton, while in 2020 only 1.7% of the voters supported someone other than Trump or Biden. We cannot say for certain at this point whether 2024 will follow the 2016 or 2020 path in terms of the undecided voters.