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Donald Trump's Chances of Winning Election Are Declining

Polls are crap

It’s a little bit notable how they change over time, but mostly it is just a bunch of poor methodology noise

But, I do feel it’s relevant to point out that even in polling land Biden has been gaining for the last few weeks and it’s notable which media outlets are pretending it is the opposite of that (like severely the opposite) and to wonder why that is

63 comments
  • Obviously the only poll that matters is the actual election, and that's months away, and anything can happen, and everyone needs to do their part no matter what.

    That said, I would expect Trump's numbers to slide a bit from time to time as we get closer to the election. The closer we get to November, the more we'll see independent and apathetic voters start to pay a little bit of attention, and there is just so much not to like with Trump. The MAGA-dominated GOP is incredibly myopic about how their views will be seen by the average American living outside the right wing echo chamber.

    And as much as it would help them, I don't think Republicans will be able to pretend to be moderate or sensible, even for the sake of the election. There is a perverse incentive to be as extreme as possible in order to gain support from other extremists and win influence on the right, but that behavior drags the party as a whole down when it is seen by anyone who isn't already part of the base. For example, MTG gets national support and tons of media attention despite being a representative for a little rural district that no one gives a fuck about, all because she is a loud and controversial extremist. Anyone who moderates their tone or stops themselves from saying the quiet part out loud will lose influence to those who proudly proclaim their awfulness.

    None of this is to say that victory is assured. Hell, I'm not even saying it's likely (nor am I saying that it's unlikely). I'm just saying that I think that there's good reason to expect Trump's poll numbers to dip from time to time.

  • At the start of the year, I gave 95% odds that Trump would lose the election. So far, the biggest shake up has been the assassination attempt which didn't give him a boost in the polls. I think the polls showing Biden losing are flawed because those showing him doing so more than the margin of error have 18 to 20-somethings voting more for Trump. However, I also believe that the way the polls change can inform us about changes to the political climate. (Systematic sampling bias should still show changes that have a global effect in the intended dataset.)

    Furthermore, Biden already won against Trump before Jan 6, which showed every single warning about him was true. Right now, our biggest threat is complicity and voter suppression. Register to vote, encourage other people to register to vote, call everyone online who tells you not to vote for Joe Biden a Russian Bot, and everyone in meat space whatever name will hurt them the most (traitor is a good one, fascist is another.) Register, organize, encourage, show up. Vote early if you can. I have arrangements with people in my area who are able to taxi people to their polling place for free; consider doing the same.

  • Polls for a close race are never going to be great. That’s just how statistics works.

    America is fairly split down the middle nationally, and winning or losing can come down to who gets people to turnout on election night in a couple purple states.

    Even with Clinton V Trump, the polls were not wrong. They showed a close race, and 538 literally said that it was a 4 sided die roll with Trump on a side.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Donald Trump's chances of winning the November 2024 presidential election are declining, according to a new aggregation of polls.

    It comes after a Presidential Voting Intention poll of 3,601 swing state voters by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, found that Trump's margins over President Joe Biden have narrowed since June in two key swing states: Florida and North Carolina.

    In a post on their website, FiveThirtyEight said their latest predictions can be explained by the flurry of swing-state polls that show Biden is encroaching upon Trump's lead.

    In the week before the shooting, national polls had Trump as the favorite to win the White House, leading narrowly in the six key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

    An ABC News/Ipsos/Washington Post poll released Thursday found Biden and Trump are tied among registered voters.

    Biden's fitness for office has been called into question since his shaky debate performance against Trump in June in which he muddled his words and appeared to lose his train of thought.


    The original article contains 683 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

63 comments